The Maximum Isn't Enough for Some Executives

Most inspectors general at large agencies are paid $145,400 but have subordinates who earn at least $10,000 more as SES members. Inspectors general cannot receive bonuses, but SES members are eligible for them. Last year, the average SES bonus was $13,292.

The Defense Department's new civilian pay system, the National Security Personnel System, will allow some managers and professionals to earn more than some senior executives. In the Washington area, the maximum NSPS pay for managers and professionals is $150,646 -- close to the average SES salary.

Carol A. Bonosaro, president of the Senior Executives Association, said she worries that the new Pentagon system, combined with annual increases in the General Schedule scales for rank-and-file employees, will make the Senior Executive Service less attractive to potential applicants. Her group represents the interests of the SES, whose members have little guaranteed job security.

"Compensation for GS-15s is moving steadily but surely into the SES pay bands in such a way that, frankly, a decision to move into the SES with more risk and responsibility seems unwise," she said.

There are some encouraging aspects to the federal system, however.

Congress created a new pay system for federal executives in 2003. Since then, average pay for the Senior Executive Service has increased 9.1 percent, slightly more than the 8 percent wage increase for management, professional and related workers in the private sector and state and local governments, according to the Labor Department's employment cost index.

And at a time when the average private-sector chief executive earns more in one day than the average worker makes all year, the government has, for the most part, avoided creating giant pay gaps within agencies.

"Our executives make two to three times what their line employees make, a very equitable system," said John M. Palguta, a vice president at the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service. "We are not putting our executives on pedestals and really overcompensating, based on that relationship."

Stephen Barr's e-mail address isbarrs@washpost.com.