If federal workers earn too much money, what about contractors?

As the economy has tanked and people have lost their jobs, there has been a backlash against the federal government.

This anti-government sentiment has morphed into attacks against federal workers, with some conservatives stereotyping civil servants as lazy bureaucrats who are making too much money while so many Americans are suffering.

This stance is now being fueled in a variety of reports, including an article in USA Today that we highlight this week. The article cites data showing that federal workers on average make more than private sector counterparts in a wide wage of occupations.

As one example, it points to federal IT jobs like computer information systems managers earning an average of $122,020, compared to average earnings of $115,705 in the private sector in 2008.

There are some federal IT jobs that probably do pay more than the private sector, but if you ask around, that is not the perception or reality for many civil servants.

In fact, many federal IT jobs are performed by contractors who often pay their employees quite well, and in many cases quite a bit more than the public employees that they sit near everyday in the workplace. Many of those complaining about salaries of federal employees don't raise an eyebrow when it comes to outsourcing of government IT work and payment of huge sums to IT companies.

The truth is that the federal government needs to be competitive in the IT field, and perhaps pay better than average salaries to attract better than average employees for some very important jobs. One could also argue that there is too many IT jobs being outsourced to contractors, and some of them should be brought in-house.

IT is the backbone of the government, and with the need for greater efficiency and heightened security, we need the best minds and the innovative people in the federal service, and we should be paying them decent salaries.

The cybersecurity threat alone argues for government to up the ante. A number of reports show a shortage of highly skilled cyber specialists and with competition from the private sector, the government must find way to attract and retain top talent. - Judi