December 23, 2010
Across the nation, federal employees are getting undeserved lumps of coal in their Christmas stockings this year. When President Obama signed the 2 1/2-month extension of government operations yesterday, it included a 2-year pay freeze for federal workers. While the White House argues that the freeze will save $5 billion by the end of 2012, CEPR’s Dean Baker points out that this reduction in money that federal workers have to spend will lead to drops in private sector employment in 2011 and 2012 of 7,000 and 18,000 jobs, respectively.
