WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- A majority of Americans believe federal workers are overpaid and nearly half say they under-perform, a poll indicates.
Results from the Washington Post Poll released Monday indicate 52 percent of Americans said federal workers are paid too much compared with their private-sector counterparts. Nine percent said federal workers were underpaid and 33 percent said they were paid the right amount.
Forty-nine percent of the respondents said they didn't think federal employees worked as hard as similar employees in the private sector. Thirty-nine percent said federal civil servants worked equally hard and 7 percent said they worked harder, results indicated.
The survey shows public views of federal workers split along party lines, with Republicans the most likely to see a divide between government pay and that in the private sector, the Post said.
John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal workers union, told the Post he recognizes that the criticism might be generated partly from high U.S. unemployment.
"But this whole idea of 'I know somebody who doesn't work hard' -- well, get the hell out of here," he said. "Honest to God, you can say the same thing in any industry."
Results are based on nationwide telephone interviews with 1,002 adults conducted Sept. 30-Oct. 3. The margin of error is 3.5 percentage points.
