Times Were Good At The Beginning Of The Obama Years?

In a Federal Times story about fewer federal workers getting pay raises these days, check out this incredible comment:

“Managers are getting tougher, out of necessity,” said John Palguta, vice president for policy at the Partnership for Public Service. “When times are good and you’re getting a budget increase and perhaps even expanding the workforce a bit, as they did in the beginning of the Obama years, you can have a little slack in your organization and manage it. But when you’re really straining, workloads are increasing and your staff is not, then you need to have employees who are fully contributing. And managers, because they’re under pressure to get the job done, are more willing to bite the bullet and get the job done.”

So as the country nose-dived into the Great Recession and private sector workers were laid off in droves, federal workers were sitting pretty.