skullkrusher: Katie98_KT: I'm going to try to answer this as honestly and openly, because I can't tell if you're serious or not.

completely serious

Katie98_KT: Studies have shown that the gender and ethnicity bias is much less in the public sector than the private sector. Aka, public sector female accounts and public sector male accounts are paid about the same (or closer to the same) than private sector female accounts v. private sector male accountants.

if there is no gender or racial pay gap in public service employment then it should not be considered. If there is, it should be taken into account. If it exists but to a lesser degree than the private sector, that should also be factored in but to ignore it in this case would detract from the validity of the study on private vs public pay. That's all I was saying.

It would be valid to include it if they're controlling for the fact that government has less of a pay gap. What they're doing according to the article is using the pay gap to prove that government workers are paid more.

instead of comparing an accountant with a masters degree in the public sector to an accountant with a masters degree in the private sector, they're comparing a female accountant with a masters degree (in both), when we KNOW that the female accountant in the private sector is paid less because of a unfair pay disparity.

skullkrusher: Katie98_KT: LeftOfLiberal: I like how all the conservative groups based government pay being higher because it pays minorities and women an equal amount to white men.

I was just coming here to say that after reading the article.

What kind of crap study would use someone's gender/ethnicity to determine whether pay was equal between public and private workers?

aren't women paid less than men on average? Doesn't it make sense to compare public sector women to private sector women if you're trying to figure the difference between public and private sector pay for similar occupations? To do otherwise would invite a well documented bias into the calculation

CBO does this. I don't think CBO stands for Conservative Boys Only

I'm going to try to answer this as honestly and openly, because I can't tell if you're serious or not.

Studies have shown that the gender and ethnicity bias is much less in the public sector than the private sector. Aka, public sector female accounts and public sector male accounts are paid about the same (or closer to the same) than private sector female accounts v. private sector male accountants.

EXAMPLE (just to show what I'm saying, no data on this):
Public sector female: $40k
Public sector male: $45k
Private sector female: $30k
Private Sector male: $50k

Also, the government has a higher than average number of women and ethnicities, I *think* especially in white collar professions.

So. In a study that takes someone ethnicity and gender into account, you're re-introducing what most people would consider inproper/unfair pay gaps.

Aka- It is not fair to say that public sector accountants are paid more than private sector accountants simply because the federal government ISN'T biased against female accountants by paying them less. There is no reason to introduce someone's gender into a study comparing private to public sector.
On top of that, you're further biasing the study because out of 10 private sector accountants, 8 are male, but in the public sector, 7 are male. (again, made up numbers to illustrate the point).

I like how all the conservative groups based government pay being higher because it pays minorities and women an equal amount to white men.

farkityfarker: Government workers are public servants who sacrifice the higher pay and benefits they would be able to get in the private sector out of a sense of altruism and a need to serve the greater good. This applies to all levels, including those in higher political offices.

I did it for job security and a pension. The writing was on the wall and the private sector was going to get farked. I found myself in a public sector job with a path for advancement after being unemployed for a couple months after 9/11 and decided to weather out the Bush presidency doing computer support for New York State.

I do like helping people, and that is what I do all day so I guess you could argue that there is an altruistic aspect of it, but I work for a paycheck and the golden handcuffs of a pension.

Plus as a bonus anyone can look up how much money I make online. Link

Dwight_Yeast: Serious Black: We all know that government employees are all lazy, shiftless bastards that freeload on the productive members of society. That makes these studies irrelevant because any level of pay is too much and akin to burning a big pile of money.

And furthermore, they don't deserve their contractually-promised pensions, either. It's not my fault that every level of government has underfunded pensions for decades.

Contracts with the government are always bad and do not have to be honored, unless they are non-competitive DOD contracts that funnel billions into the military industrial complex......because freedom, GOP, and apple pie.

Serious Black: We all know that government employees are all lazy, shiftless bastards that freeload on the productive members of society. That makes these studies irrelevant because any level of pay is too much and akin to burning a big pile of money.

And furthermore, they don't deserve their contractually-promised pensions, either. It's not my fault that every level of government has underfunded pensions for decades.