The contrast grows still more complex when you realize who makes up these workforces. Some 17 percent of federal workers are Black, compared to 11 percent of private-sector workers. (Latinos, however, have higher representation in the private-sector). So in this corner of the labor force that seems more resistant to the economy's race to the bottom, the Black community has an especially significant stake.

On the other hand, in a parallel with the private sector, people of color factor relatively prominently in the poverty-wage subset: 27 percent of the poverty-threshold federal workers are Black, 13 percent Latino.

The crux of the report is the potential impact of contracting out federal jobs to the private sector--the kind of outsourcing that is typically billed as “cost-cutting.” Well, paying more workers poverty wages certainly is one way to reduce overhead:

“In 2006, one in five federal contract workers was paid less than a poverty threshold wage. While the percent of contract workers earning below poverty threshold wages is lower than in the private sector as a whole, it is more than double the number in the federal workforce and indicates that contracting out has a depressing effect on the incomes and labor standards of people who do work for the U.S. government.”

EPI recommends amending the process of awarding contracts to ensure equitable wage levels, “so that taxpayer funds are not used to create an ever larger workforce that is unable to escape poverty and support a decent standard of living.” It's also worth noting that the Small Business Administration has guidelines for providing federal contracts to minority-owned businesses, but the government has in recent years opted to use this leverage rather... gently.

With Washington poised to dramatically expand its role as an engine of job creation, how it confronts the questions of wage and racial equity will be key in making sure the government is actually part of the solution this time around.