Federal employees are overpaid and underworked (probably a good thing), but a tear-jerker in today’s Washington Post reports that “job satisfaction across the government has hit its lowest point in almost a decade”:

It’s no secret that federal workers are feeling worn down. They’ve had their salaries frozen and are at the center of a partisan debate over the value of their work. A report due out Thursday, based on the largest sample ever of the workforce of 2 million, confirms a steady decline in morale and ebbing commitment.

Meanwhile, private sector workers – the people whose taxes pay for the salaries and benefits of federal workers – are still dealing with the aftermath of an economic downturn caused in large part by federal policies. Federal workers – with their cushy benefits and job protections – are worn down? Tell that to private sector workers who have seen their benefits reduced and their job security undermined by the economic uncertainty being engineered by the Beltway kleptocrats.

As if the fiscal angle wasn’t irritating enough, we’re apparently supposed to feel sorry for the government employees who get paid to trample on our civil liberties:

Just 52.9 percent of employees at the sprawling Department of Homeland Security, for example, are satisfied with their jobs, making it the lowest-ranked large agency, followed by the Department of Veterans Affairs…

“We work for a horrible agency, but we do great work,” said Ricky D. McCoy, a transportation security officer at Chicago O’Hare International Airport and president of Local 777 of the American Federation of Government Employees. Just 32 percent of employees at the Transportation Security Administration, part of DHS, are satisfied with their pay, which is among the lowest in the government.

McCoy said he expects the TSA’s first collective-bargaining agreement, signed in November, to improve morale. “We’re hopeful now that things will turn in our direction,” he said.

The president has said that he wants to make working for the federal government “cool again.” Gee, what could be cooler than getting a pay raise for molesting people all day?