On the recordMarch 10, 2011
Half of the Federal workforce, I learned, work in the nine highest paying occupation groups: judges, engineers, scientists, nuclear plant inspectors. That's half of the Federal workers. Less than a third of private sector workers work in these same nine top-drawer occupations. So when you hear these comparisons, you are not comparing comparable workforces. The private sector has categories we don't even have here like cooks and manufacturing workers. So these comparisons that you speak of, I say to the gentlelady, could not be more important to distinguish. We are talking about the highest level workforce in the United States of America. And I will say to the gentlelady, I learned as well that there are far fewer of them than when I was a child. In 1953, there was one Federal worker for every 78 residents. Today, there is one for every 147. How did you go from one Federal worker for every 78 residents to one for every 147 residents? Productivity. This is a knowledge workforce. It is a workforce to die for.
