Source: AFGE Insider

Sen. Joni Ernst, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy and other politicians have continued to make incorrect statements about the federal workforce. Their statements have eroded their own credibility and are just an attempt at tarnishing the reputations of civil servants to make it easier to fire them and contract out their jobs to for-profit corporations. 

We believe that facts matter, and AFGE will continue to debunk these misconceptions as they come in.

Myth: 

The federal government is too centralized in the Washington area, and relocating agencies around the country will make it more effective. 

Fact: 

Just 15% of our nation’s 2 million federal workers live in the Washington, D.C. metro area. The remaining 85% already live across the country, in all 50 states, in big cities and rural areas, on military installations and in our communities, and everywhere in-between. 

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Myth: 

The bloated federal workforce is at an all-time high. 

Fact: 

Over the past 50 years, the number of federal workers has grown by roughly 6%. At the same time, the U.S. population has increased by 57%. The ratio of federal workers to national population has steadily decreased for the more than a half-century at this point. In 2024, the total federal workforce compensation of $293 billion amounted to just 4.3% of the federal budget. Meanwhile, federal contractors accounted for $759.2 billion, or 11.4%. If federal workers were paid equally to private sector workers, their pay would make up a 10% share of the budget.

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Myth: 

Federal workers are overpaid. 

Fact: 

Federal workers earn nearly 25% less than private sector and state and local workers who perform similar jobs.

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Myth: 

Federal workers don’t seem to understand or care who they work for. 

Fact: 

About 642,000 federal workers are veterans of the U.S. military. More than half (58%) of all federal workers hold jobs that directly support our troops (Army, Navy, Air Force, DoD), our veterans (VA), or our seniors (SSA, CMS). Federal workers know better than anyone who they work for – the American people – because they devote every single day to delivering vital public services that hundreds of millions of American rely on. They do not cater to any corporate contractor’s bottom line; they serve only their fellow American citizens. 

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Myth: 

Federal workers have “fake jobs.” 

Fact: 

Federal workers perform essential work on behalf of everyone who calls this nation home. They’re the doctors and nurses who care for our veterans, the people who get Social Security benefits out on time, the corrections officers in federal prisons who protect us from dangerous criminals, the USDA inspectors who make sure our food supply is safe, the FEMA specialists who assist disaster survivors, the TSA screeners who protect the flying public, the border patrol agents who stop drug smugglers and human traffickers, and so much more. 

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Myth: 

We only have 6% of our federal workforce actually going into work every single day. 

Fact:  

54% of federal workers hold jobs that require them to report in-person to their duty station every day… Among those whose jobs permit telework, 61.2% of working hours are spent in-person. 

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Myth: 

Americans are being put on hold by bureaucrats who are phoning it in. 

Fact:  

Mischaracterizing telework as failing to show up for work is a deliberate attempt to demean and disparage federal workers and ultimately eliminate and/or outsource their jobs. Both private and public sector employers have found that hybrid telework arrangements improves employee engagement, recruitment and retention. Hybrid work arrangements actually reduce wait times and allow better service for citizens.

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Myth: 

Federal workers are low-skill workers who would be unqualified for private sector employment. 

Fact:  

Federal workers are both highly skilled and highly qualified. 66% of the federal workforce has a bachelor’s degree, compared to 43% of private sector workers, while 33% of federal workers have an advanced degree, compared to just 15% of private sector workers. 

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Myth: 

98% federal bureaucrats are enrolled in a taxpayer-funded pension (compared to just 15% of private sector employees with access to a defined benefit pension plan). That locks federal employees into government employment & comes with a massive cost: nearly $1.2 trillion in unfunded liabilities for the main federal pension system. The cost of pensions is a key reason why most employers have moved away from them. 

Fact:  

While federal pay continues to lag far behind private sector pay, the average yearly pension for Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) retirees is just $25,000. As it stands, those benefits are no match for rising costs and exorbitant health care expenses that many seniors face. Yet, even as President-elect Trump, Elon Musk, and Ramaswamy plan to extend tax cuts and handouts to the wealthy, they are plotting to cut the key retirement benefits that federal workers have earned.