The pay raise is something like 3.1%. It was scheduled to be higher because in the past, there was a freeze on pay raises so they were trying to make up for previous downfalls.
It is quite a generalization to say that all governement employees are good, or all government employees are bad. Most of the stories that you hear about the extreme wastes (thousand dollar toilets, etc.) are not by the government employees but by independent contractors. Therein lies a huge problem in that the governement goes to the lowest bidder on various items. It causes a tremendous amount of turnover in companies that they deal with. Additionally, there is so much personnel swapping in the private sector that many of these contractors and consultants continually swith project managers, so there is very little continuity at times and a lot of repeating to catch-up.
I think there is a great deal of importance to pay government employees a fair wage. I feel more comfortable with some of the non-political appointees doing certain jobs and holding certain supervisory roles than I do with some of the politically appointed employees. If you just consider what Ashcroft has been doing in the DOJ, it certainly doesn't impress me too much that all the new hires are from small Baptist colleges with very little experience and somewhat lacking resumes. Not having a strong resume doesn't mean that the person isn't qualified -- don't get me wrong. But when consistently the hires appear to be based more on an aspect of the person that has nothing to do with the job, it worries me somewhat. Please don't rip me for the religion thing -- it would be the same if he only hired people with red hair or something else ridiculous.
I would like to know that we have a few responsible governement employees that are fairly compensated and in it for the 'long haul.' With so much instability and the possibility that you have consistent waves of people in jobs for only 4 years, I think it is important to have someone available to mentor and advise. Let's get the best person in that job.
I used to be in the public school system, where there are a number of employees that do very little. But it's like that in any union, I would think. But there are an equal number that do well above and beyond their duty and still make very little money. It's a choice they make, so I don't feel bad for them. But to see someone who makes very little money and still works his ass off says a lot of positive things about that persons character. So for government employees, there are certainly going to be a few bad apples, but moreover there are probably more that are underappreciated.