Government workers in the Washington area are increasingly being paid more than employees in the private sector.

Compensation for government workers grew about 55 percent from 2001 to 2008, while pay for private-company employees rose 40 percent, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. The average compensation for local workers grew about 45 percent.

"Everyone knows that it's impossible to fire federal workers, just about," said Dan Mitchell, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, alibertarian think tank. "That, to me, is slam-dunk evidence that federal workers are overcompensated."

State and local government employees also are earning more. Private industry workers earned an average of $25.11 an hour, while state and local government workers earned $29.99 an hour, according to local data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics taken from August 2008 to October2009.

Bringing home the bacon
Changes in compensation since 2001

Year	Government           increase	Private-sector increase
2002	8.42%	1.41%
2003	14.25%	5.74%
2004	25.07%	14.15%
2005	33.26%	22.83%
2006	39.56%	29.74%
2007	46.82%	36.41%
2008	55.38%	40.44%

Note: Figures are cumulative increases from 2001
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis

The BEA data include pay for government — federal, state, and local— and government enterprises, which include the Postal Service and local transit authorities.

Not only does the federal government pay well, but it's hiring — a rarity nowadays. The government hired 13,000 more workers last month than a year ago, while the Washington area as a whole lost 34,200 jobs over the same period, said Stephen Fuller, director of George Mason University's Center for Regional Analysis.