From Federal News Network:
More than half of the Social Security Administration’s frontline employees are earning less than what’s necessary to afford a basic standard of living in their communities, according to a new report.
Released Wednesday by the Strategic Organizing Center, a research partner for the American Federation of Government Employees, the report found 54% of the 36,000 frontline SSA employees represented by AFGE were paid less than a living wage for their geographic region. A living wage is the minimum income needed for an individual to afford the minimum standard of living in their community. …
16 comments:
1. The Direct Financial Impact of Low Wages on Employee Turnover
2. Hidden Costs of Low Morale: The Ripple Effects on Productivity
3. Recruitment Challenges: Attracting Top Talent with Subpar Compensation
4. The Reputation Risk: How Low Wages Can Damage Your Brand
5. Increased Training Expenses: The Cost of Constantly Hiring and Onboarding
6. Legal Implications: Avoiding Fines and Lawsuits Linked to Wage Issues
7. Strategic Investments: Allocating Resources for Retention Over Replacement
But Franky-Poo says it’s an honest days work for an honest days pay. What does that look like for $500M?
In my area (relatively LCOL), a GS 5 pay (what a fair amount of new hires start out as) is less than what that person could make working 40 hours per week at Buccees (an amazing gas station).
This is not a knock on Buccees at all, just using them as an example- I’m guessing training there is probably done in a day or two? SSA training takes months. The workloads are too complex for the pay received.
This is why SSA struggles to keep people, and has for years.
They are probably getting training for 47 days while in the past it lasted at least a couple of months.
I’m guessing training there is probably done in a day or two?
They watch cartoons now for their training, so I’m not sure how long it takes- might be self-paced? Training for a CR/CS, SR/CSR, BA, and CA used to take months. Proper training should still take months. I doubt anyone is getting proper training these days, because enough time isn’t allocated for those with institutional knowledge to help the newbies. So they get in, realize the jobs are crazy hard, they aren’t getting paid enough, and leave if they can.
When you have hard jobs with low pay, you have to offset it with some kind of benefit. The benefits used to be telework, job security, and stability, but all that is gone now. The pay also used to be better in relation to the cost of living, even if it was still on the lower end.
So the only people the agency will be able to hire will probably be the most desperate who use it as a springboard to another job.
I would like to point out that this is around 40% of the agency staff that is paid less than a livable wage. That is a shame.
Some attorney writers are leaving. The hourly pay just can’t keep up with private sectors. We have older gen ALJs with horse ranches, car collections, waterfront homes. But that was all before inflation. The recruiting incentives are getting iffy.
I've worked for SSA since the 80s. The pay has been adequate to buy a house, raise 5 kids, have 2 cars , have my wife stay at home. Started as GS 4 clerical, TSR, CR/CS.
Fast forward 46yrs please - we aren’t in the 80’s anymore and I’m sure no longer a GS-4. What a house cost in the 80’s is not what a house cost now. This is part of our problem as a nation….well I could afford this off that pay 46yrs ago…. look at where WE are now and not where YOU were then.
It's interesting to go back through the pay tables on the OPM site and compare pay back to 2011 to pay now for same grade, step, location. Pay is a *lot* lower than it would have been if it had even kept pace with inflation (maybe around 25%), so in reality fed workers have had huge pay cuts over the past 15 years.
It’s crazy. Federal courts raise the bar every year on a legally sufficient decision. How’s SSA supposed to attract legal talent when private pay is outpacing, telework is sunsetting, and PSLF is a political football? I fear AI will be writing a lot sooner than might guess given the inability to hire or attract talent.
That’s great for you. But if you look at what is actually reality now, earning haven’t kept up with inflation. SSA employees would need a 20%-25% raise to keep up with inflation. Just because you had it good doesn’t mean that current newer employees have it good.
I have worked at SSA for more than 20 years. When I was hired on, the salary was great compared to what I was making in the private sector. Now, people coming to work at SSA are paid less than a livable wage.
What was true for you, and what was true for me doesn’t make it true for the younger workers.
I started as a GS-4 in 1978. Never earned enough to buy a house or a car. Didn't make enough for my spouse to stay at home and we could not afford to have kids. Now retired and we barely keep our heads above water. Now maybe somebody else won a lotto jackpot and is living high off the hog...but we aren't...
Former Fed. The last 15 years or so basically no raise in income. COLA’s were always lower than the medical insurance increases. In fact pay cuts!
Agree with 3:18. Started as a GS 5 BA in 1981 @ $12,500 ish. 1 year later GS 7. Next year GS 8 (prior to GS upgrades.) Retired 36 yrs later as a GS 14. 1st mortgage 1987 @ 9.5% FHA! Chicago Area GS 5 now at $21.80 ph. Very good vaca, health insurance benefits. Work hard, be flexible in job advancement and should still be able to build a good life. Frank, Leland, et. al. do not control the GS pay schedule or COLAs. Unsure who would have to approve starting position upgrades?
You don't have to look any further than the comparison of federal civilian pay to military pay increases. Federal civilians are down over 15 percent to military the last 15 years. Compared to private sector, it's even worse. With that said, it's tough to compare to military because a fair share of their pay can be non taxable. In addition, the cost of healthcare is basically nothing for active duty, so where civilians have been hit hard with health care costs, the military has been protected. Bottom line - that 15 percent loss to the military is definitely much greater. If something doesn't change, good luck finding new hires.
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