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Started By
Message
re: Private Sector vs state employment
Posted on 4/16/24 at 8:14 am to shellbeachspeckzzz
Posted on 4/16/24 at 8:14 am to shellbeachspeckzzz
quote:
that is what everyone tells me.
Can you explain it to me in monkey terms what the retirement is like?
It’s a DB pension. You can retire at age 62. You get the average of your highest five years of salary x 2.5% x years of service. (Ex. If your average highest salary over 5 years averages 100K and you worked 30 years, you get a pension benefit of 75K/year. [100K x .025 x 30 = 75K])
quote:
its an engineering job for CPRA. im young and just trying to figure out my life right now.
CPRA might be in some upheaval at the moment. But for a young person who isn’t sure about life plans, state work isn’t a bad place to be. It’s usually a better work-life balance, allows time to take tests and get additional credentials and you can network and get connections to private companies.
Like anything else, you get out of it what you put into it.
Good luck buddy!
0
Posted on 4/16/24 at 8:29 am to SneezyBeltranIsHere
quote:Agreed. Have contracted tens of millions of dollars with state and federal agencies, and while the state workers are FAR better than the feds, overall, both have no sense of enterprise. That's not necessarily always the individual's fault, because the government doesn't produce anything but only takes in order to give, but to say government employees know about the hustle and bustle just the same as an individual in free enterprise who has to go out and kill in order to eat, is laughable.
My business often interacts with state & federal employees. I couldn't disagree with you more. The majority of them barely work.
The only collective that's worse is electric utility power companies, but they're so subsidized and intertwined with the government that I personally and professionally consider them one and the same.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 8:51 am to kywildcatfanone
Govt work requires little and pays well, and you get a huge pension. It's how all govt operates.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 8:53 am to mudshuvl05
Did state while the kids were young. Spent enough time to enjoy the benefits and time off while the kids and I were still young, and get vested in the pension. Moved on to private for a pay raise putting me higher than the cap for my state position. Will start collecting roughly half my state salary at 55. What I lost in pay was pretty much made up for in benefits, until I approached the salary cap.
If you are in a high paying/in demand field, taking the pay cut early on sets you up for a pretty good guaranteed extra retirement income, cheap benefits, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Then you can move on for a big salary increase, but not sure it would be as attractive if I was in a lower paying profession.
If you are in a high paying/in demand field, taking the pay cut early on sets you up for a pretty good guaranteed extra retirement income, cheap benefits, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Then you can move on for a big salary increase, but not sure it would be as attractive if I was in a lower paying profession.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 8:55 am to shellbeachspeckzzz
Private sector. You will likely be making twice as much in private sector at mid career opposed to state work. No health plan or pension is worth that difference in pay.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 8:56 am to Suntiger
quote:
I worked much harder and longer hours working for the state.
When I worked for the state you would have been the exception not the norm. Most of the people I worked with were just biding their time waiting to retire, early.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 8:56 am to TDsngumbo
quote:
I worked for LSU once and it sucked because I often worked 15 hour days for absolutely no extra pay.
We must've worked for the same division within the LSU system. Luckily I had a supervisor who understood that requiring after hours work and overtime without pay would burn out employees real quick. When I became a supervisor I did the same thing and let my people have comp time. The no comp time for unclassified positions was always a odd policy to me.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 8:59 am to Bard
quote:
A footnote to retirement: It doesn't matter if you worked your full 40 quarters in the Social Security system. Once you become vested in the state's pension plan you automatically lose around half of whatever SS benefits you would have gotten had you done anything else but go to work for a state system which does not pay into the federal government's Ponzi scheme.
There seems to finally be some momentum to change this foolishness.
The House Ways and Means committee is meeting at 2 P.M. today to discuss the WEP and GPO.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 9:27 am to Buck Strickland
quote:
There seems to finally be some momentum to change this foolishness.
The House Ways and Means committee is meeting at 2 P.M. today to discuss the WEP and GPO.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 9:38 am to shellbeachspeckzzz
How about like a BOEM or BSSE petroleum or reservoir engineering role with 5-7 years experience? what would that pay?
This post was edited on 4/16/24 at 9:39 am
Posted on 4/16/24 at 9:54 am to Saunson69
that doesnt sound like something i would like nor have an interest in
Posted on 4/16/24 at 9:56 am to shellbeachspeckzzz
I did 14 years with the state. Didn't touch my pension when I left. Doing a few years in the private sector, saving what money I can. Plan on going back eventually with the state to pad my pension more. Going to try to find the most backwood, slow office I can. Will put in alot less effort when I eventually return.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 10:03 am to shellbeachspeckzzz
I know, not interested, just curious. Back when I graduated PETE in 2015-2016, we had 240 in our graduating class in PETE. Only 10% had jobs bc the downturn, so many turned to BOEM and BSSE. Wonder if they're still there.
I hear today the classes are 40 to 50 people compared to 240 ppl 8 to 9 years ago.
Pre-2014 GPA range and job was
3.5+ Res Engr
3.2-3.5 Ops/Proudction Engr
3.0-3.2 Drilling Engr
Sub 3.0 Service Company
2015 and after was
3.95+ Res Engr
3.88-3.95 Ops/Production Engr
3.8-3.88 Drilling Engr
3.5-3.8 Service Company
Sub 3.5 Unemployed
Made me so mad when I saw guys I knew with 3.0s at Connoco and Shell that graduated in 2012 and 2013 and were not that bright that got there just bc they graduated a couple years earlier than me. They wouldn't likely have any offers if they were 2 years younger.
These are the little things people outside the industry don't consider.
I hear today the classes are 40 to 50 people compared to 240 ppl 8 to 9 years ago.
Pre-2014 GPA range and job was
3.5+ Res Engr
3.2-3.5 Ops/Proudction Engr
3.0-3.2 Drilling Engr
Sub 3.0 Service Company
2015 and after was
3.95+ Res Engr
3.88-3.95 Ops/Production Engr
3.8-3.88 Drilling Engr
3.5-3.8 Service Company
Sub 3.5 Unemployed
Made me so mad when I saw guys I knew with 3.0s at Connoco and Shell that graduated in 2012 and 2013 and were not that bright that got there just bc they graduated a couple years earlier than me. They wouldn't likely have any offers if they were 2 years younger.
These are the little things people outside the industry don't consider.
This post was edited on 4/16/24 at 10:15 am
Posted on 4/16/24 at 10:03 am to shellbeachspeckzzz
Depends on what the person does. Some fields the pay between private and State is competitive, so the retirement would tip the scales to the State easily.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 10:07 am to Corinthians420
quote:
Anyone that works for the state department loses all rights to bitch about government spending.
Actually I’d argue that folks who work for the government are often in a better position than the general public to observe how the government spends its money and offer insight on such.
I’m guessing that the premise of your argument, as a self-identifying libertarian, is that all but minimal government spending is inherently wrong and therefore wasteful - following that a public sector employee who expected to be adequately compensated was similarly part of the problem.
While I can respect your personal views, I’d offer that the preamble to the Constitution sets forth many purposes for our government that are necessary to be met.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 10:09 am to Suntiger
quote:
I’ve worked in both. The “lazy state worker” is a bad meme. I worked much harder and longer hours working for the state. And there are plenty of brothers-in-law and kids and other people in private industry who are either dumb, lazy or corrupt.
Same here.
But I’ll draw a distinction with state workers. Younger employees bust their arse because it’s either a gateway job to something better or they are young and ambitious. An employee who has worked for the state for 15-20 years shows much more signs of slackassery.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 10:12 am to Willie Stroker
quote:
Same here.
But I’ll draw a distinction with state workers. Younger employees bust their arse because it’s either a gateway job to something better or they are young and ambitious. An employee who has worked for the state for 15-20 years shows much more signs of slackassery
I've always said state workers are created once they learn the system. Most watch who gets the promotions and how. They see the corruption and give up.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 10:16 am to Bard
quote:
A footnote to retirement: It doesn't matter if you worked your full 40 quarters in the Social Security system. Once you become vested in the state's pension plan you automatically lose around half of whatever SS benefits you would have gotten had you done anything else but go to work for a state system which does not pay into the federal government's Ponzi scheme.
Yes, the Windfall Elimination Provision requires a minimum of 21 years of the minimum qualifying income (i.e. income that has SS taxes taken out) to start reducing the penalty. It takes a full 30 years of minimum qualifying income to eliminate the penalty. Note, the WEP minimum qualifying income is actually higher than the minimum threshold to start taking SS taxes, so even people who paid SS tax may not have made enough to not be penalized. The WEP doesn't kick in specifically because someone has a local or state pension. The WEP requires a minimum income threshold that also had SS taxes taken out.
Also, the SS benefit will already be lower even without the WEP because SS payment is based on 30 years of income and only income that paid SS taxes. So working for the state for 30 years and then social security for 10 consecutive years results in a SS payment calculated using average salary of (10 year+(20*0))/30. That's 20 zeros averaged in.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 10:28 am to Boston911
quote:
ESOP company 30+ years
This is not the path most have an option for. ESOPs are that rare instance that benefits the primary owner and the employees, especially long-term employees. Provided the company is stable, obviously.
Posted on 4/16/24 at 10:29 am to Bard
quote:
A footnote to retirement: It doesn't matter if you worked your full 40 quarters in the Social Security system. Once you become vested in the state's pension plan you automatically lose around half of whatever SS benefits you would have gotten had you done anything else but go to work for a state system which does not pay into the federal government's Ponzi scheme.
This statement may not be applicable/accurate depending on which state you are in.
In Alabama, for example, the state does pay into the SS system and you still get your full benefits in addition to your pension.
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