Federal Eye Eye Opener: Federal Hiring, Salary, Benefits News

Happy Tuesday! It’s a big busy week for The Eye, because his wedding to Almost Mrs. Eye is this Saturday!

Until then however, at least some of The Eye’s focus is on Washington, where Congress and President Obama get back to work. As a busy week begins, here are some news and notes on federal hiring, salary and benefits:

HIRING:

“If projections bear out that the federal government will hire up to 120,000 people for jobs in the region over the next few years, the Washington area economy could be on its way to a rebound faster than most of the nation,” reports The Post’s V. Dion Haynes.

The Washington region is expected to experience a net loss of 21,000 jobs by the end of the year, according to experts. But the region is expected to see net gains in jobs: 23,900 in 2010; 34,900 in 2011; 42,000 in 2012; 47,600 in 2013; and 53,300 in 2014 — thanks mostly to federal hiring and the peripheral economic benefits.

SALARIES:

Check out The Post’s fantastic What Washingtonians Make, which ran Monday. The list includes salary information for several federal employees and top government officials:

House Sergeant-at-Arms Wilson Livingood earns $166,774.98, while President Obama’s personal secretary, Katie Johnson rakes in $75,000. Paul Rhymer, a taxidermist and model-maker at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History makes $75,000 while Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor now makes $208,100 and former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales banks $100,000 as a visiting professor at Texas Tech University. Hillary Rodham Clinton swapped a Senate salary of $174,000 for $191,300 as secretary of state.

Two other noteworthy earners: A tuba player with the National Symphony Orchestra earns $125,000 a year (!) and The Eye’s boss Donald Graham earns $811,960.

BENEFITS:

Leaders of the federal employee unions plan to “aggressively pursue a broad set of legislative priorities when Congress returns on Tuesday,” reports Alyssa Rosenberg of Government Executive. “They also said their members are looking for clarity about what kind of reforms to the pay and personnel systems the Obama administration might pursue.”

“One of the first issues on the horizon is the fate of the Defense Department’s National Security Personnel System. A panel appointed by the administration to examine the alternative pay system recommended in late August that NSPS be substantially reformed. But the House and Senate versions of the 2010 Defense authorization bill contain slightly different provisions that would repeal NSPS within a year unless the Defense secretary makes a case to retain the program.”

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Barbara Blaskowsky

The Post’s article was disturbing … a veterinarian makes three times that of a teacher? And a feral cat organization president makes $85k more than a firefighter? I’m all for animals, but something is seriously wrong here. And what is a “Dead Animal Operator?”