MARY ANN MILBOURN: Federal workers more likely to die than get fired

Federal government workers have so much job security that they are more likely leave their job due to death by natural causes than get fired or laid off, according to a study by USA Today.

The story says 11,668 federal workers were fired last year — 0.55 percent of the 2.1 million in the workforce. Defense Department, postal employees and seasonal workers were not counted. In the private sector, about 3 percent of workers get canned every year.

And — surprise — higher-paid, white collar federal workers have almost total job security. USA Today’s analysis shows a job security rate of 99.82 percent among those half-million white collar workers in 2010.

Those most likely to get laid off? Hope you’re not eating. It was the government’s 12,700 food-preparation workers with a 2.5 percent firing rate.

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Mary Ann Milbourn writes for The Orange County Register, The Monitor’s sister paper and flagship of the Freedom group.