Pay gap between government, private sector widens to 34 percent

The gap in pay between federal employees and private-sector workers has jumped 8 percentage points since last year, according to new data presented at a Federal Salary Council meeting Friday.
On average, federal employees earn 34 percent less than their private-sector counterparts, according to the council's analysis.
The pay gap, which is calculated using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics based on pay in 34 locality pay areas, was 26 percent last year.
The council, which is made up of labor representatives and pay experts, makes recommendations on federal pay to the President's Pay Agent.
Over the last several years, the council's analysis has shown the pay gap increasingly widening.
Still, two years after President Barack Obama proposed a two-year pay freeze for civilian government employees, the issue of whether and how much feds are underpaid remains contentious.
A Congressional Budget Office study released in January found, overall, federal employees actually earn about 2 percent more in wages compared to private-sector workers, with wider differences based on education level.
But a June 2011 report from the the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, indicated government pay outstripped private-sector pay by 14 percent.
In reviewing various statistics on federal pay, the Government Accountability Office said the widely divergent results were due to the different methodologies the various studies used. Attempting to compare or extrapolate from them would be "potentially problematic," GAO auditors said.

 http://www.federalnewsradio.com//189/3085581/Pay-gap-between-government-private-sector-widens-to-34-percent