Obama's secretary made $95K in 2011

Here's the civil service pay scale for Fed workers in DC

http://www.fedjobs.com/pay/washington.html

You sure wouldn't get a good exec assistant for a major corporation at that price here.

So she's only around a grade hig 12 or low/mid 13?

You'd think the prez would get a grade 15, step 10, which btw, makes $155K a year.

that's stupid

I think the key perk is prestige. You're in public service, working for the most powerful man on Earth. The most powerful man on Earth, in turn, earns a fraction of a corporate CEO's salary. And for him, too, I think it's the prestige that makes the difference.

I don't think the titles of administrative assistant, executive assistant carry that kind of prestige.

Of course the description "to the potus" makes a diff, but you can't maintain a prestigious lifestyle in D.C. on 95 thousand.

So, she goes home to her little brownstone (don't know if she's married, or what the spouse might do, can't assume) and lives, what? a prestigious life?

If she's living where she can afford it on that pay, I'd look at her home and say "what, you work for the potus, and live Here?"

She must have a bunch of other benes, like cars, free rent, free services and so forth.

btw, here's obama's return.
I think it's a hoot having "U.S. President" as occupation.

Why not? A lot of prestige comes can come from things you can't buy for money---including your job title.

It's probably a plus on the resume. Maybe she'll need it soon.

It doesn't seem low to me unless you are considering the high expense of living in the DC area as an adder. That salary by itself would put her in the 80+ percentile for household income in the US and most of those households have more than one salary earner. I also don't know that what she is required to do is a lot more than what the administrative assistant does for my group at work and she is not paid anything near six digits even though she supports ~40 people. Of course none of them is the President but you get the idea.

I think ehbeth said it best.

According to this website, Exec Assistant salaries tend to top out at $70k.

Couldn't agree more. I think the secretary that salary refers to is Katie Johnson (lucky girl)!

Cost of undergrad degree from Wellesley...$220,000
Grad school at London School of Economics....£9,000
Listing "Personal Secretary to The Most Powerful Man on the Planet" on resume.....Priceless!

There's some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's Mastercard!

I wouldent mind making the paltry sum of 95,000 thousand.

There might be an opening at the GSA.

(Free vacations to Vegas and Hawaii, too!!!)

Where do I sign up!!!

The line forms behind me! (If I can somehow manage to lose a bunch of iPods and stuff, they'll give me a bonus!!!)

Prestige doesn't help when you're paying rent in the D.C. area. You're definitely not getting a house on that kind of salary.

Sure you can. $95K easily qualifies you for $300,000 in mortgage. Lots of homes near DC in the MD, VA area in that price range.

But a "prestigious" home?

You yourself printed the link that shows positions for civil service tops out at just over $155K (in the ballpark of what I guesstamated would be a fair pay of $150K).
Why shouldn't the secretary of the president of the united states be making that top wage?

Prestige?
That sounds like a way to underpay someone for their skills, by convincing them that the words in their job title is supposed to be so impressive to others that they shouldn't be concerned that they are not making what they deserve.

While on my job search, I would see ads for Administrative Assistant, even Executive Assistant, that in the description gets around to saying the pay is a laughable $12 to $15 an hour. That's office clerk pay.


The fact is, real administrative assistants, who are called upon to use their judgement, work autonomously, etc. Start at 40K and top out anywhere between 50-55K, in general.
Executive Assistants start more at $50K, and for someone with some years of experience, run more like $50K to $60K to start and go up over $100K
We're not going to settle for less than we're worth, because we know our real title, although unwieldy is more like "Mind Reader/Holder of all Knowlege/Right Arm/Eye of the Hurricane"

What my belief is, is that although she is only getting $95K (yes, only) she's getting a lot more perks, like on site living quarters (she's got to be available 24/7, her bosses needs come before any life she wants to have) transportation, and other necessities.

Honestly, it's hard to fathom how some are thinking $95K for supporting the POTUS is such a fabulous sum, and having the title is "priceless"

Sure it's going to be on her resume, that's a given. What, does that mean "we don't have to pay you top scale because you can put it on your resume"?

A top of the line butler earns $200K, a top of the line private concierge that can make anything happen charges $50 plus an hour, plus expenses.

The presidents personal secretary has her own personal staff, has many EA's do, to perform the everyday tasks, freeing her up for her real work of making her boss look good every moment, in whatever form that takes.

I personally feel that between her wages and perks that would equal $150K plus a year.

Don't be naive, there's a lot of money out there.