While some have claimed that federal employees earn more than those working outside the federal government, the differences in financial well-being remain consistent when examining household income levels. A quarter of federal employees whose monthly household income is less than $2,000 are thriving in financial well-being, compared with 15% of workers outside the federal government, a difference of 10 percentage points. While thriving differences between federal and non-federal employees vary somewhat across income levels — such as those households who earn $5,000 to $7,499 a month — federal employees consistently have higher financial well-being.
The same trends of higher levels of thriving for federal government workers are seen across educational attainment. More than a third (35%) of federal employees with a high school degree or less are thriving, compared with about a quarter (27%) of those working outside of the U.S. government, and these differences continue at each higher level of education, including an eight-point difference in thriving among those with a postgraduate education.
In 2012, the Congressional Budget Office found that less-educated federal employees made more money than their non-federal counterparts and more educated federal employees made less. Conventional wisdom might suggest then that the differences in financial well-being between less-educated federal and non-federal employees would be greater than the differences between those with more education. However, these differences between federal and non-federal employees’ financial well-being across education levels are similar, including a matching eight-point difference for those with a high school degree or less and for those with a postgraduate degree. Again, these data suggest that income may not be the basis for high financial well-being.
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