President Obama proposed a 1.4 percent pay increase for military members and federal civilian employees in fiscal 2011, according to budget documents released on Monday.
The 1.4 percent figure marks the lowest recommendation in nearly 40 years. But the figure is in line with the change in the private sector's wages from September 2008 to September 2009, according to the Labor Department's Employment Cost Index. Under a 2004 law, military salaries must be increased annually at a rate at least equal to the change in the ECI for the private sector's wages. By default, federal pay raises are also pegged to changes in ECI, the budget states.
"The federal government hires a relatively highly educated workforce, resulting in higher average pay," the 2011 budget blueprint states. "In 2009, full-time, year-round federal civilian employees earned an average 21 percent more than workers in the private sector, according to current population survey data collected by the Census Bureau. However, a raw comparison of these numbers makes important differences in the education levels of federal and private sector employees."
Still, another law on the books -- the 1994 Federal Employee Pay Comparability Act -- was designed to close a gap between private and public sector pay. The law has not been implemented as intended, however, and the Federal Salary Council now estimates the gap to be 26 percent in favor of the private sector.
What is your response to the 1.4 percent pay raise proposal, as well as the administration's assertion that federal pay is higher than private sector pay, contrary to Federal Salary Council estimates? Will lower-than-average pay raises keep the government competitive with the private sector, particularly when it comes to attracting and retaining highly-skilled IT workers?
Brittany Ballenstedt
Brittany Ballenstedt writes Nextgov's Wired Workplace blog, which delves into the issues facing employees who work in the federal information technology sector. Before joining Nextgov, Brittany covered federal pay and benefits issues as a staff correspondent for Government Executive and served as an associate editor for National Journal's Technology Daily. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Mansfield University and originally hails from Pennsylvania. She currently lives near Travis Air Force Base, Calif., where her husband is stationed.
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