🚀 go-pugleaf

In an earlier posting to this thread I wrote ...


> I am writing this on my word processor and am trying to format it so it 
> is as readable as possible. If the  formatting gets trashed during 
> posting, my apologies in advance.
 
Apparently the format was trashed pretty badly. For those who are 
interested, here is a better (I hope) version:


To All:

In recent weeks, there has appeared, in this and some related
newsgroups, a debate relative to U.S. Government civil servant
salaries compared to contractor, or private sector salaries.
Many of the postings on this topic have been anecdotal, with very
little real value in addressing the question of Civil Servant vs.
Private Sector pay, in the aerospace business.

I have some data taken from two publications available at the
NASA Lewis Research Center which does provide specific
information on Civil Servant Salaries. I am posting this
information not to get involved in that debate, but to present
some actual data for those who are involved in the debate to, as
the saying goes "hang their hats on."

For FY 94, the data is "hard" data.  I.e., no assumptions on my
part were required. The only qualification is that the data are
for the Fiscal Year 1994 (10/01/93-9/30/94).  The data are taken
from a presentation entitled "Civil Service Workforce at Lewis
Research Center, Fiscal Year 1994." I am writing this on my word
processor and am trying to format it so it is as readable as
possible. If the formatting gets trashed during posting, my
apologies in advance.


                        SALARY DATA (FY 1994)
                        =====================

JOB CATEGORY                       #  EMPLOYEES      AVG. SALARY
--------------------------------
Scientists/Engineers                     1437             $62,678
Administrative Professionals             309              49,962
Technicians                              314              45,773
Wage Grade                               262              38,025
Clerical                                 205             26,920

Total Workforce                          2527             53,566


EDUCATION BY JOB CATEGORY
=============================


JOB CATEGORY                          #  EMPLOYEES    % IN CATEGORY
------------------------------------
Scientist/Engineers
     Doctorate                            236                  16.4%
     Master's                             478                  33.3
     Bachelor's                           723                  50.3
     Other (Associate,                     0                   0
       High School, etc)
..........................................
Administrative Professionals
     Doctorate                               6                 1.9%
     Master's                               60                 19.4
     Bachelor's                             133                43.0
     Other (Associate,                      110                35.6
       High School, etc)
............................................
Technicians 
     Doctorate                                0              0 %
     Master's                                 0              0
     Bachelor's                               11             3.5
     Other (Associate,                      303            96.5
       High School, etc)
.............................................
Wage Grade*
     Doctorate                                0              0
     Master's                                 0             0 
     Bachelor's                               8             3.1
     Other (Associate,                     254              96.9
       High School, etc)
...............................................
Clerical
     Doctorate                                 0              0
     Master's                                  1              .5
     Bachelor's                                4             2.0
     Other (Associate,                       200             97.5
       High School, etc)
...............................................
Total Workforce
     Doctorate                              242              9.6%
     Master's                               539              21.3
     Bachelor's                             878              34.7
     Other (Associate,                     868               34.4
       High School, etc)



*I believe that individuals paid under the Wage Grade Schedule
 (WG) are primarily skilled mechanics, electricians, machinists,
 carpenters, and other craftsman.


                       FISCAL YEAR 1995

The corresponding data for FY 1995 is not available (to me, at
any rate). However, with a fair amount of arithmetic, and one
assumption, approximate overall data on salaries for civil
servants at Lewis Research Center can be derived from a Lewis
Publication (available to all employees at Lewis) entitled "Lewis
Research Center: Equal Opportunity and Diversity Management and
FY96 Affirmative Employment Program Plan"

The data in that publication are broken up by Pay Grade and
further subdivided into a variety of cultural diversity/equal
opportunity employment groups. I am presenting the properly
weighted averages from this publication. It is NOT the intent of
this posting to initiate a debate on affirmative
action/multicultural diversity, etc, and I will not post the
breakdown of these figures.

The Job Categories in this publication are broken down somewhat
differently than above. There are only two categories which
contain pay grade information: Professional and Administrative.
Furthermore, the information is only presented for pay Grades 12-
15, and the SES (Senior Executive Service).  I do not know what
constitutes "Professional", but assume it includes individuals
with earned degrees in the sciences, engineering, mathematics,
and law. To my knowledge there are very few, if any, Medical
Professionals at LeRC.  Our Medical Services organization is a
contractor operation.

Finally, I had to make one important assumption: that the average
individual in any given Pay Grade Level is at step 5 (out of 10)
within that grade.

For Fiscal year 1995, then the figures are:

No. of Civil Servant  "Professionals" :   1320
Average Salary:                        $60,382


A couple of observations and this posting will, for those who
have read this far, mercifully end.

1. There was a statutory 4.3 % pay increase between 1994 and 1995
   for civil servants in the General Schedule at Lewis.  This
   consisted of an annual nationwide "pay comparability" increase
   of about 3.7 % (erroneously called by many a COLA, which it
   most assuredly is NOT), and an additional amount based on
   variations of changes in the cost of living from one locality
   to another.  This was about 0.6% for Cleveland. For Houston it
   was about 4.8%; for Huntsville about 0.7%; for the Bay Area
   (NASA Ames); about 4.4%, for Washington, D.C. about 1.8%.

2. I believe that the "apparent decrease" in average Civil
   Servant salary between 1994 and 1995 at LeRC is due to a
   number of factors.  The weighted average I computed for 1995
   did not include SES personnel, the numbers for 1994 do. These
   are principally Senior Level Managers, and SES pay varies
   between $92,900 and $115,700.  Also, there was a relatively
   large exodus (about 400 people, I believe) during the
   "buyouts" in the last year or so.  Those taking the buyout
   were for the most individuals with 30 or more years of
   service, and would necessarily have been at the higher pay
   grades, on average.

3. I believe that the two figures above, for 1994, and 1995, are
   representative of all the NASA Field Centers (after accounting
   for the locality pay differentials).  I have no reason to
   believe that the job, skill, and education mix would be much
   different from one center to the next. It is probably an
   understatement of the average Civil Servant salary at NASA HQ,
   however, because of the relatively large number of senior
   agency managers there.

4. If I have offended any particular group of workers or
   profession at Lewis by failing to mention them, or providing
   incorrect information, then I apologize in advance. My phone
   number is in the LeRC Directory. I have a thick skin.

It would be interesting to have similar information posted from
any of the contractor organizations supporting the respective
NASA Centers, if it is available.

Allen K.
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Everyone is entitled to my opinion.
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