Damn. That's bad. Do government jobs pay well in the US? I hope the temporarily-laid-off have enough in the back pocket to last through this nonsense. If anyone's gonna reply to ThurberMingus' question, tag me as well: I want to know the question, too
The benefits provided through federal employment make for a misleading salary. In the army a newly commissioned officer makes 30-40k but gets a number of allowances for housing, etc. not to include healthcare, which can rack up past 60k.
On average, they pay better the lower your education level is.
What? The graph in the article you cited doesnt reflect that, neither does your claim in general make sense.
i think they mean "pay better in relation to what you would be getting in the private sector, given your education level" - notice that the gap between government and private salaries is large and positive on the low end of education, whereas that totally switches towards the high end
I jumped on the bad writing without attempting to discern what he meant, my bad. That makes a little more sense.