re: Questions about federal government pay

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I have never actually seen a GS-1 job posted or heard of anyone at that grade.

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They exist - but are are rare. Student trainee, part-time work, etc., commonly fall into those grades. I thought I indicated the majority of even entry level federal jobs run from GS-3 to GS-5, to start. A number are even GS-5 to GS-7 slots, which gets you up to a GS-7 in just 2 years - but they normally require a little education or experience above high school graduate.

And government jobs are competitive up to about GS-11 and GS-12 - that's about the departure with what the civilian pay would be for commensurate responsibilities - for example - many, many federal attorneys are hired at GS-9, and "senior" attorneys are typically GS-13 - while at Step 10, that is ~$107k, that job is equivalent to a senior partner in a litigation firm - so, they're taking between 1/3 and 1/2 what their civilian counterparts are taking, on average.

Remains somewhat competitive in a small market, if you factor in the benefits package.

And that's the problem with comparing the federal workforce's average pay and the private sector's. The feds have contracted out much of the menial and entry level stuff to contractors - so there are far fewer janitors in the GS (most are contractors), and far more accountants, doctors, lawyers, MBAs, etc., in proportion to the overall population.