Florida Has 3,756 Federal Employees Who Make More Than Governor Scott

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Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK)

Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) asked the Congressional Research Service (CRS) to determine how many in state federal employees are making more than their Governor. Florida came in fifth highest with 3, 756 employees. The top five states are: Colorado 10,875, Maryland 7,283, Arizona 4,426, Alabama 4,299, and Florida 3,756. Delaware had the fewest federal employees making more than their governor at 37 employees.

According to CRS calculations 77,057 federal employees earned more in total annual pay as of September 2009 than their respective state governors earned in 2009.

The top three groups of federal employees in Florida making more than Governor Scott are in the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group (1,830), Transportation Group (588) and Legal and Kindred Group (483).

Table 12. Florida: Federal Employees Compensated at a Rate Greater Than the Governor’s Salary, by Occupational Group  shows the following breakdown. NOTE: Florida Governor’s salary is $132,932.

Occupational Group Federal Employees in Occupational Group Making More Than the Governor:

  • Accounting and Budget Group – 64
  • Business and Industry Group – 46
  • Copyright, Patent, and Trademark Group – 2
  • Education Group – 7
  • Engineering and Architecture Group – 272
  • General Administrative, Clerical, and Office Services Group – 223
  • Human Resources Management Group – 7
  • Information Technology Group – 13
  • Information and Arts Group – 2
  • Inspection, Investigation, Enforcement, and Compliance Group – 84
  • Legal and Kindred Group – 483
  • Mathematics and Statistics Group – 10
  • Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group – 1,830
  • Miscellaneous Occupations Group – 16
  • Natural Resources Management and Biological Sciences Group – 40
  • Physical Sciences Group – 57
  • Congressional Research Service – 11
  • Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group – 12
  • Transportation Group – 588

Total 3,756

Sources: Governor’s salary information for 2009 was taken from the Council of State Governments, “State Government Compensation by Branch”. The
distribution of positions by occupational group was calculated by CRS using the Office of Personnel Management’s Central Personnel Data File from September 2009.

Read the report titled “Public Servants or Privileged Class: How State Government Employees Are Paid Better Than Their Private-Sector Counterparts“.

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