Also, everyone knows that they're more likely to get messed around as a government employee now, so the market rate has gone up. It is now more expensive to hire people for the same roles.
Government jobs don't work like that, do they? There's a pay schedule for the job title and that's what you get paid. The codes start with G and go from 1-16 and beyond. Idk look it up. You don't really get to negotiate wages as a federal employee. The only thing you can get paid more on hire is if the schedule for the title is like GS4-GS5 DOE
The flip is they get paid time off, a lot, retirement, health coverage, and maybe early retirement.
> You don't really get to negotiate wages as a federal employee.
Not on an individual basis, no. But the rates get set according to the market just like everything else, to the lowest that results in sufficient supply. The market is always moving. Recent changes will result in positive price pressure. Rates will inevitably lag, but they do not exist in a vacuum relative to the market.
Benefits of government employment exist, but other changing factors still move the market.
Also, everyone knows that they're more likely to get messed around as a government employee now, so the market rate has gone up. It is now more expensive to hire people for the same roles.