By AP/Washington Post
Campbellsville, KY – Republican Rand Paul is taking aim at federal payrolls as a sign of government excess as the Senate candidate criticizes federal overspending to a tea party gathering.
Paul told about tea party activists Monday evening the average federal worker makes $120,000 a year - twice the salary of the average private worker. He says bringing federal salaries in line with the private sector would save the government an estimated $47 billion a year.
The Washington Post, however, reports that the data Paul cites includes low-skill restaurant, retail and other service jobs that the government workforce, which skews toward highly educated employees, doesn't include. Figures from the U-S Bureau of Labor Statistics shows when federal and non-federal jobs are compared by level of work in different regions, the private sector makes more.
