Wired

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that as of October 2003, government workers were more likely to use computers and the Internet on the job than their private-sector counterparts. Almost 70 percent of workers at all levels of government used computers on the job, and 56 percent reported they used the Internet at work. The computer- and Internet-use rates for

private-sector workers were 53.5 percent and 39.3 percent, respectively. That's partly because more than half of all public sector employees hold management and professional jobs.

But dig a little deeper, and the survey says some interesting things about the federal government. While 67.5 percent of federal employees reported they use computers, that's less than the state government rate (73.5 percent) or that of the private-sector professional and business services industry (68.4 percent). Likewise, when it comes to Internet usage, almost 54 percent of federal employees report they use the Web or e-mail at work, compared to 63.6 in state government and 57.1 percent in private professional and business services.