Equivalencies

The conversation about pay parity is always a difficult one, because there is an actual difference between the work done and the risk accepted by soldiers who are serving overseas and folks who work in office buildings in the United States. But I don't think it's useful to treat federal employment as two polar opposite points, and rather as a continuum. Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas died in the line of duty, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced today, and as Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry pointed out on Monday, between 1995 and 2007, 2,085 civilian federal employees have died on the job.