December 25, 2013
By Stephanie West
Washington, DC – Federal employee morale is at an all-time low according to a new government-wide survey, and the leader of the nation's largest federal employee union faulted Congress for pushing policies that favor spending cuts over economic growth.
"Pay freezes, furloughs and budget cutbacks are the reasons why federal employee morale is in the dumps, and lawmakers who have been leading the charge to slash government spending with abandon have no one to blame but themselves," American Federation of Government Employees National President J. David Cox Sr. said.
A report released by the Partnership for Public Service, "Best Places to Work in the Federal Government," says 57.8 percent of federal employees are satisfied in their jobs, which is the lowest it's been since the survey began in 2003. The Partnership report is based on the Office of Personnel Management's annual survey of the government's more than 2 million workers.
Federal employees have had their pay frozen for an unprecedented three consecutive years, and many lost a week of wages this summer due to sequestration-related furloughs. New federal employees are being required to pay substantially more toward their retirement to help pay down the U.S. deficit. Meanwhile, budget cuts due to sequestration have resulted in hiring freezes, cutbacks in employee training and other reductions that have impaired service delivery to the public at many agencies.
