The rich (bureaucrats) keep getting richer

Ed Morrissey, Hot Air: When I worked in the security industry, we used to consider it one of the few recession-proof industries, assuming that when times got tough, people would be more inclined to add security. It didn’t work that way in practice, because there really aren’t any recession-proof industries, just recession-resistant industries … except one. USA Today reports that federal salaries have increased rapidly during the recession, leading to an explosion of six-figure salaries in the public sector:

The number of federal workers earning six-figure salaries has exploded during the recession, according to a USA TODAY analysis of federal salary data.

Federal employees making salaries of $100,000 or more jumped from 14% to 19% of civil servants during the recession’s first 18 months — and that’s before overtime pay and bonuses are counted.

Federal workers are enjoying an extraordinary boom time — in pay and hiring — during a recession that has cost 7.3 million jobs in the private sector.

Bureaucracy is the real recession-proof industry. The numbers are mind-boggling. In 18 months, the number of federal employees making over $100K have increased 46%. The number making over $150K has more than doubled.