Same Worker, Higher Wage: A Study of Workers Who Switch from Private to Federal Employment
Numerous studies, including two separate analyses by The Heritage Foundation, have concluded that federal workers do receive a substantial wage premium. Most of these studies have used the cross-sectional human capital method, which compares federal workers to private workers who have the same skills. The cross-sectional method is not perfect, however, and supplemental analyses can be useful in confirming its results. Rather than comparing workers at a single point in time, this report follows individual workers as they switch between the federal and private sectors. It finds that workers who ...