Government Workers Absent 50 Percent More Than Private-Sector Workers

More evidence of a loosey-goosey environment at taxpayers' expense.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics -- yes, a federal agency -- has just produced data showing a government worker is 38 percent more likely to be absent from work for personal reasons or illnesses than a private-sector worker.

Not only that, government workers miss 50 percent more of their usual work hours as a result of those absences than private-sector workers do.

Could this have anything to do with EHJS -- Extremely High Job Security, as described in Monday's "Washington Fat Cats Still Aren't Learning from Private Employers" in Sunshine State News? The bureau doesn't say, of course. It sticks with the facts.

The Census Bureau's Current Population Survey rounds up the worker data every month from 60,000 households. It always includes information on employment status, too. The Bureau of Labor Statistics uses all of it to publish employment statistics.

It's all very prescriptive. The survey is conducted during the week that includes the 19th day of the month and any questions asked that reference a particular week apply to the week that includes the 12th day of the month.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics explains it this way, according to CNSnews.com: When an employed wage and salary worker who usually works 35 hours per week is reported as having worked fewer than 35 hours during the survey reference week (including those with jobs who worked zero hours), a question is asked as to why he or she worked fewer than 35 hours.

Workers whose reasons for missing work include their own illness or other personal reasons (such as family responsibilities or transportation problems) are counted as having had an absence. Those who are reported as having worked fewer than 35 hours because of vacation, holiday, labor-management dispute, or bad weather which results in an employer temporarily curtailing business activities are not counted as having an absence.

The data taken wasn't an outlier. The bureau says it produced virtually the same results during the prior year -- 4 percent of government workers absent from work in the typical reference week compared to 2.9 percent of private-sector workers.

That means a government worker was 38 percent more likely to be absent than a private-sector worker.

The point here is, government workers also missed more of their usual work hours as a result of these absences than private-sector workers did. The bureau claims in 2012, workers missed 1.4 percent of their usual work hours as a result of absences and government workers missed 2.1 percent of their usual work hours because of absences.

It doesn't take a genius to see government workers missed 50 percent more of their usual work hours as a result of absences than private-sector workers did.

Doesn't it sound to anyone else that about now, government could use a more Houston-we've-got-a-problem attitude?