President Obama has signed the continuing resolution that extends the current two-year pay freeze for federal employees for an additional six months.
Congress late last month passed a $1.047 trillion continuing resolution that funds the government through March 27, 2013. That means the earliest federal workers could see an across-the-board pay boost is April.
The president in August sent a letter to lawmakers noting that he would use his authority to give federal employees an across-the-board 0.5 percent pay increase in 2013, but the increase will not take effect until Congress passes a budget. The passage of the continuing resolution means that it will be up to the next Congress and the outcome of the November presidential election whether federal employees will see the modest 0.5 percent pay increase.
The president said the extended pay freeze would not “materially affect the federal government’s ability to attract and retain a well-qualified workforce.”
I’m interested to hear your thoughts on the extended pay freeze. What impact does the pay freeze have on your plans to stay, retire or leave your government job, and what impact will it have on federal IT recruiting and retention?
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.
Addressing the 3 Biggest BYOD Security Threats
Mobile Apps: New Ways to Connect Government with Citizens
Continuous Monitoring As a Service: A Shift in the Way Government Does Business
Research Report: Powering Continuous Monitoring Through Big Data
JOIN THE DISCUSSION
By using this service you agree not to post material that is obscene, harassing, defamatory, or otherwise objectionable. Although Nextgov does not monitor comments posted to this site (and has no obligation to), it reserves the right to delete, edit, or move any material that it deems to be in violation of this rule.