This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Wednesday, October 14, 2015.

I'm Caleb Brown. Federal workers earn far more than workers in the private sector

and the gap between them is growing.

So says Chris Edwards in his new report, reducing the costs of federal worker pay and benefits.

He discusses the high and growing price of our federal workforce.

Well, the Bureau of Economic Analysis recently released new data showing that in 2014,

on average, federal workers earn 78% more in pay-in benefits than the average

worker in the private sector.

So that's why I say federal workers are an elite island of secure and high paid employment,

separated from the ocean of average Americans competing in the economy.

There's a lot of discussion about income inequality in this country. in the federal workforce over

income inequality in this country

one of the drivers of it is the fact that federal the federal workforce

over two million workers is so well paid.

Now, how do you arrive at that data?

What is a comparable job or a comparable employment situation

for the average American versus the average federal worker?

Well, the starting point is looking at overall averages and overall,

federal workers earn about 78% more now than private sector workers.

And people rightly point out that, you know, if we want to figure out exactly how much to pay federal workers,

we should do apples to apples comparisons.

How much should a federal accountant or lawyer earn compared to a private sector accountant and lawyer?

...