The exploding salaries of federal workers

Slate reports

The exploding salaries of federal workers:

The percentage of federal workers who make more than $100,000 increased from 14 percent to 19 percent during the first 18 months of the recession, reports USA Today. At a time when millions of people have lost their jobs, many federal workers are living large. And the ones who were already earning more than the average have been doing particularly well. In December 2007, there were 1,868 civilian employees at the Defense Department who earned more than $150,000. Now there are more than 10,100. In the Transportation Department there was one person who earned more than $170,000; now there are 1,690.