| ▲ | ETH_start 2 days ago | |
If we use BEA/FRED "compensation of employees" (wages + benefits), the payroll picture is: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A4076C0A144NBEA All US government employees (federal + state + local): $2.409T in 2023. US nominal GDP in 2023: $27.812T. So government compensation = ~8.7% of GDP (2.409 / 27.812). Breakdown (2023): Federal government compensation: $634.9B (~2.3% of GDP). State + local compensation: $1.7846T (~6.4% of GDP). State/local education: $863.1B State/local other: $783.2B For cross-country median disposable income comparisons, OECD has a direct chart: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/society-at-a-glance-202... Your $400 stat is about liquidity and balance-sheet fragility; it doesn't tell you the cross-country level of median PPP-adjusted disposable income. OECD Figure 4.1 is the relevant comparison. Generally, countries with more government social spending have lower savings rates, because people irresponsibly rely on the taxpayer as their backstop, so I'm not surprised at all. The U.S. actually has very high levels of social spending, despite the stereotype of it being a very free-market-oriented economy. That leads to those who qualify for many social programs, i.e. low-income earners, to put aside a relatively small portion of their income for savings. | ||
| ▲ | hvb2 a day ago | parent [-] | |
Since you took the data for federal and state and local, you end up with 22.51 million employees[1]. Out of a total number of employed people of ~160M that's 1 in 8 employees. If you're calling 1 in 8 'a small share' the we just disagree there. As to the $400 statistic, let me just point out that this > That leads to those who qualify for many social programs, i.e. low-income earners, to put aside a relatively small portion of their income for savings. Is very much an opinion, not a fact. Maybe there's also that for the low income earners there isn't any money left after paying for housing, food and such. And I'm not even talking about health insurance. [1]: https://www.statista.com/statistics/204535/number-of-governm... | ||