Today Rasmussen released this interesting poll result:
Data from the Rasmussen Consumer Index from the past seven days shows that a plurality of government workers think the economy is getting better while those who work in the private sector tend to have the opposite view. Those in the government sector are also more upbeat about the current state of the economy and their own personal finances.
Today, 46% of government employees say the economy is getting better while just 31% say it’s getting worse. Among those who work in the private sector, the numbers are reversed: 32% say better and 49% worse.
Note that over the past 18 months there's been an explosion in federal salary increases — “federal employees making salaries of $100,000 or more jumped from 14% to 19% of civil servants during the recession's first 18 months,” according to a report by USA Today. And government workforces have been expanding as unemployment hit 10 percent. No wonder they're “more upbeat about the current state of the economy and their own personal finances.”
