 it s a great time to work for the government today the topic is government jobs i ll start with a few links first from carpe diem  follow the link to see a few interesting graphs showing the increase in federal government jobs since mid2007 the number has increased fivefold as a usa today article from last year mentions those jobs are really paying the bills federal employees making salaries of 100000 or more jumped from 14 to 19 of civil servants during the recession s first 18 months mdash and that s before overtime pay and bonuses are counted nice work if you voted for the party in power right now from the mackinac center for public policy  discusses the negotiated 3 increase of union state of michigan workers and how the legislature has just over a month to rescind that raise let s be serious there will be no renegotiation such a change would require a twothirds majority an impossibility in a uniondominated state like ours continuing with the theme of teachers is a link from the lansing state journal  which i found from another mackinac center article at a time when local teachers unions are struggling to maintain salary and benefits and the union s overall statewide membership is declining many mea negotiators and executive director luigi battaglieri also got hefty pay increases and average pay for all employees at the mea has risen 19 percent in recent years but it s all in the name of doing the best job they can do says doug pratt mea director of communications do we compensate our officers well do we compensate our managers well yes he said we believe in attracting and recruiting the best possible candidates i wonder what mr pratt thinks of the bonuses received by aig and other financial firms that caused such an uproar last year they were just trying to attract and keep the best people they could too and just like the federal workers it pays to work for the mea overall mea salary expenses are increasing for the 200506 fiscal year the average salary for each of the 346 mea employees was 75308 by 200809 343 employees earned an average of 89612 each an increase of nearly 19 percent i m in the wrong business i often pass the mea office on saginaw street in east lansing perhaps i need to stop by pretend i m a liberal and squeeze taxpayer dollars out of teachers like their union reps do it obviously pays to do so  