Extended pay freeze could affect IT recruiting and retention
Feds won’t see bigger paychecks until Congress passes a budget.
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?