The $10,000 Salary Fetish

Abstract

IN THE departments of the federal government-State, Commerce, Labor, Treasury, etc.-there are ten times as many salaries of $10,000 as of all amounts over $1o,ooo. In the Executives Office of the President, the General Accounting Office, the Government Printing Office, the Library of Congress, and the independent agencies such as the Atomic Energy Commission, the Civil Service Commission, and the Tennessee Valley Authority (but excluding the Tax Court of the United States) there are nine times as many. Most of the salaries above $10,000 in these departments, commissions, etc. are in connection with very recent enterprises. For example, the Atomic Energy Commission and the United Nations together account for one-fourth of them. Until very recently it was an unwritten law of the federal government that nobody save the President, the Vice President, Cabinet members, and judiciary should be paid more than $1o,ooo. As late as 1941 senators and representatives received only that amount, and the persons in the various departments and commissions receiving more could be counted almost on one hand. Maintenance of the $1o,ooo limit has kept the percentage increases for salaries over $6,500 much below the percentages for salaries of $6,500 or less. The salary changes from 1936 to 1947 for a random selection of 706 posts in the executive branch are as follows: