Splendid Insulation

For most Americans, the past few years have been a Sisyphusian struggle against inflation and recession. But thousands of senior federal civil servants have enjoyed a kind of splendid insulation from such onslaughts. Among the cushions, according to a survey by Sindlinger & Co.: almost inviolable job security (in times of crisis, the Government--unlike private enterprises --tends to expand rather than retrench), generous pay hikes and lush fringe benefits.

Sindlinger sampled 894 households, including northern Virginia's Fairfax County and central Maryland's Montgomery County--the famed bedroom suburbs of Washington, D.C., that are home to legions of the nation's top bureaucrats. Sindlinger found that 56% of those surveyed reported income gains in the past six months, compared with 25.5% of 10,434 households polled across the nation. Concludes Mrs. Nellie Sindlinger. president of the Media, Pa., polling firm: "Working for the Government must be a heck of a lot better than working for business and industry. [For the top bureaucrats], it is the land of milk and honey and money."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.