Ridiculously Overpaid Government Workers
Most government jobs aren't glamorous. You don't usually get to jet around the world if you're working for, say, the Division of Zoning. But government jobs have at least been considered secure -- and as offering great benefits.
A
report released earlier this year by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office(CBO) revealed that the "
majority of public employees" -- regardless of education -- earn more than those in the private sector. When you factor in benefits like health insurance and pensions, it comes to a 16 percent difference (via
DailyFinance).
The report marks the first of its kind for the CBO, but the comparable trend between the private and public sector wage differential has been growing since 2001. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average income in the private sector has grown $11,658 over that time to last year's total of $47,815. But for the public sector, the growth is more than double that, with the figure having risen $25,343 to
last year's average salary of $75,296 for all government workers, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
Of course, at the same time, many of the prized public sector benefits are being chipped away -- and layoffs have been imposed by cash-strapped state governments, too. But still, while a large number of government workers are motivated primarily by serving the public, and might actually earn less than they could in the private sector, there are others -- from plumbers to executives -- who have wound up with surprisingly high-paying gigs. Some may have possibly used illegal means (and are awaiting trial). What do they all have in common? Their pay was footed by taxpayers, like you and me.
Seven Extremely Overpaid Government Workers Photo: GettySuspended Prison Surgeon: $259,141 A Year
- Photo: Bill Denver for the New York Daily NewsGovernment Plumber: $190,000 A Year
- Photo: Getty ImagesSmall Town Administrator: $1.5 million A Year
- Photo: GettySchool Janitor: $166,000 A Year
- Photo: GettySewage Worker: $197,119 A Year
- Photo: GettyLifeguards: $200,000 A Year
- Photo: APHospital Executive: $841,557 A Year
Small Town Administrator: $1.5 million A Year Should he be convicted on the corruption charges brought against him,
Robert Rizzo (pictured above) could go down as the king of swindling public sector employees. Back in 2010, the Los Angeles
Times reported that Rizzo, the city administrator of Bell, Calif., was the ringleader of a band of eight employees creating unusually large salaries for themselves in that Southern California city of about 35,000 residents. Rizzo himself allegedly received a payday that reached as high as $1.5 million a year, according to the
Times. And that was for a work cycle that included 107 vacation and 36 sick days a year.
The investigation led to the dismissal of all eight of the employees. They reportedly got the money by creating "official looking documents" which they then delivered to city residents to alert them of fines that they owed for trumped-up housing violations.
The Bell eight are waiting their final day in court.
