Using two large samples of federal employees, this article explores the respective roles of qualifications, racial and sexual discrimination, and locational advantages in explaining why federal employees earn so much more in Washington than in the rest of the country. Higher levels of education and experience, lower levels of sex-based pay inequality, and more advantageous grade ratios explain much of the difference. Overall, headquarters-field differences in qualifications and responsibilities do not appear to justify the size of the pay disparity.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Asher, M. and J. Popkm (1984) "The Effect of Gender and Race Differentials on Public-Private Wage Comparisons: A Study of Postal Workers." Industrial and Labor Relations Review38: 16-25.
2.
Becker, Gary S. (1962) "Investment in Human Capital. A Theoretical Analysis ," Journal of Political Economy70 (October). 9-49
3.
— (1971) The Economics of DiscriminationChicago: University of Chicago Press
4.
Borjas, George J. (1980) "Wage Determination in the Federal Government: The Role of Constituents and Bureaucrats," Journal of Political Economy88 (): 1110-47.
5.
— (1982) "The Politics of Employment Discrimination in the Federal Bureaucracy," Journal of Law and Economics25 (October):271-299.
6.
— (1983) "The Measurement of Race and Gender Wage Differentials Evidence from the Public Sector," Industrial and Labor Relations Review37,1 (October).79-91.
7.
Corazzini, Arthur J. (1972) "Equality of Employment Opportunity in the Federal White-Collar Civil Service," Journal of Human Resources7 (Fall): 424-45.
8.
DiPrete, Thomas A. (1987) "The Professionalization of Administration and Equal Employment Opportunity in the U.S. Federal Government," American Journal of Sociology93 (July): 119-40.
9.
— (1989) The Bureaucratic Labor Market: The Case of the Federal Civil ServiceNew York: Plenum Press.
10.
and WhitmanT. Soule (1986) "The Organization of Career Lines: Equal Employment Opportunity and Status Advancement in a Federal Bureaucracy," American Sociological Review51 (June): 295-309.
11.
Durst, Samantha L., Patricia M Patterson, and John Ramsden (1989) "Impacts of Traditional Explanatory Factors on Average Grade Increases in U.S. Cabinet-Level Departments," Public Administration Review49 (July/August): 362-71.
12.
England, Paula, Marilyn Chassie, and Lmda McCormack (1982) "Skill Demands and Earnings in Female and Male Occupations," Sociology and Social Research66 (January): 147-68.
13.
England, Paula, George Farkas, Barbara Stanek Kilbourne, and Thomas Dou (1988) "Explaining Occupational Sex Segregation and Wages Findings from a Model with Fixed Effects," American Sociological Review53 (August): 544-58
14.
Filer, Randall K. (1983) "Sexual Differences in Earnings: The Role of Individual Personalities and Tastes," Journal of Human Resources18 . 82-99.
15.
— (1989) "Occupational Segregation, Compensating Differentials, and Comparable Worth," in Robert T. Michaels, Heidi I. Hartmann, and Brigid O'Farrell (eds.), Pay Equity: Empirical Inquiries (Washington, D C.: National Academy Press) pp. 153-70.
16.
Goldenberg, Edie N. (1985) "The Permanent Government in an Era of Retrenchment and Redirection," in Lester M. Salamon and Michael S. Lund (eds.), The Reagan Presidency and the Governing of America (Washington, D.C: The Urban Institute): 381-404.
17.
Grandjean, Burke (1981) "History and Career in a Bureaucratic Labor Market ," American Journal of Sociology86 (March): 1057-92.
18.
Hartman, Robert W. (1983) Pay and Pensions for Federal Workers. Washington: The Brookings Institution.
19.
Jenkins, Kent Jr., and DeNeen L. Brown (1990) "Area's Federal Workers Feel Shortchanged on Pay Raise," Washington Post (January 29): A11.
20.
Keyfitz, Nathan (1973) "Individual Mobility in a Stationary Population ," Population Studies: A Journal of Demography27 (July): 335-52.
21.
Krueger, Alan B. (1988) "Are Public Workers Paid More than their Alternative Wage? Evidence from Longitudinal Data and Job Queues," in Richard B. Freeman and Casey Ichniowski (eds.), When Public Sector Workers Unionize (Chicago: University of Chicago Press): 217-44.
22.
Levine, Charles H (1986) "The Federal Government in the Year 2000: Administrative Legacies of the Reagan Era," Public Administration Review46 (May/June): 195-206.
23.
Lewis, Gregory B. (1987) "Changing Patterns of Sexual Discrimination in Federal Employment," Review of Public Personnel Administration7 (Spring): 1-13.
24.
— (1988) "Progress Toward Racial and Sexual Equality in the Federal Civil Service?" Public Administration Review48 (May/June):700-06.
25.
— and SamanthaL. Durst (1995) "Will Locality Pay Solve Recruitment and Retention Problems in the Federal Civil Service?" Public Administration Review55 (July/August)
26.
Long, James E. (1976) "Employment Discrimination in the Federal Sector ," Journal of Human Resources11 (Winter): 86-97.
27.
— (1982) "Are Government Workers Overpaid? Alternative Evidence ," Journal of Human Resources17 (Winter): 41-62.
28.
Mincer, Jacob (1970) "The Distribution of Labor Incomes: A Survey with Special Reference to the Human Capital Approach," Journal of Economic Literature8 (March): 1-26.
29.
National Commission on the Public Service ( 1989) Leadership for America: Rebuilding the Public Service Task Force Reports. Washington, D.C.
30.
Perloff, J.M. and M.L. Wachter. (1984) "Wage Comparability in the U.S Postal Service." Industrial and Labor Relations Review38: 26-35
31.
Polachek, Solomon (1976) "Occupational Segregation : An Alternative Hypothesis ," Journal of Contemporary Business5: 1-12.
32.
Quinn, Joseph (1979) "Wage Differentials Among Older Workers in the Public and Private Sectors," Journal of Human Resources14 (Winter): 41-62.
33.
Rosen, Bernard (1983) "Effective Continuity of U.S. Government Operations in Jeopardy," Public Administration Review43 (September/ October) 383-91.
34.
Smith, Sharon P (1976) "Government Wage Differentials by Sex," Journal of Human Resources2 (Spring): 185-99
35.
— (1977) Equal Pay in the Public Sector Fact or Fantasy . Princeton, N J.: Industrial Relations Section, Princeton University.
36.
Stewman, Shelby, and Suresh L. Konda (1983) "Careers and Organizational Labor Markets : Demographic Models of Organizational Behavior," American Journal of Sociology88 (January): 637-85.
37.
Taylor, Patricia A., 1979. "Income Inequality in the Federal Civilian Government ," American Sociological Review, 44: 468-79.
38.
Thompson, Frank J. (1976) "Classification as Politics," in Robert T. Golembiewski and M. Cohen (eds.), People in Public Personnel Administration , Second Edition. New York : Marcel Dekker, Inc.
39.
U.S. Advisory Committee on Federal Pay (1979 ) Eight Years of Federal White-Collar Pay Comparability. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
40.
U.S. General Accounting Office (1994) Federal Personnel: Federal/Private Pay ComparisonsWashington, D.C.. U.S Government Printing Office.
41.
U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service (1984) "Study of Total Compensation in the Federal, State, and Private Sectors," Committee Print 98-16, 98th Cong , 2nd Sess., December 4. Washington, D.C.. U.S Government Printing Office.
42.
U.S Office of Personnel Management, Personnel Systems and Oversight Group (1992). Personnel Research Highlights Survey of Federal EmployeesWashington, DC: author.
43.
— (1993) Occupations of Federal White-Collar and Blue-Collar Workers, September 30, 1993. Washington, DC: author.
44.
Wildavsky, Aaron (1988) "Ubiquitous Anomie in the Civil Service," Public Administration Review48 (July/August): 753-55.
45.
Wyatt Company (1989) Study of Federal Locality Pay. Report. Philadelphia: Author
