Locality pay makes a big difference. 2023 Federal Pay Raise Update: FAIR Act Suggests 5.1%, + New Minimum Wage In 2023, the FSCrecommended adding about 16,000 federal employeesinto existing locality pay areas. That would consist of a 4.1 percent across the board increase, with funds equivalent to another 0.5 percent raise divided up as locality pay. Member FINRA/SIPC. The FSC plays a major role in determining federal employee salaries as they make recommendations each year on locality pay. Here are the 2023 GS locality pay areas with the highest and lowest total pay increases for 2023. However, inflation challenges (Novembers Consumer Price Index was up 7 percent) and a spike in healthcare costs (premiums in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program are growing by an average of 8.7 percentin 2023) has increased pressure to provide greater pay raises. GS employee. He enjoys writing about current topics that affect the federal workforce. Do you choose between cutting personnel or delaying modernization programs? The Administration strongly opposes the limited inflation bonus that would apply only to Department of Defense civilian employees for calendar year 2023. Locality Pay Area Tweaks Set for 2023 Pay Raise, and More Additionally, you may contact our legal Help us tailor content specifically for you: Supreme Court Rejects USPS Bid to Require Sunday Work, Calendar Quirk Gives Most Feds a Little Extra Leave This Year, 5.2% Pay Raise Odds Improve with Senate NDAA, Draft Spending Bill Targets Telework, Transgender Feds, How Federal Agencies Can Enhance Collaboration to Implement, Scale Agile Frameworks. Unions Legal experts didnt rule out the possibility that legal skirmishes between workers, contractors and the government could ensue if payments and benefits are tardy. Representative Don Beyer said the raise would boost morale and help make the federal government a more attractive employer to the talent we want to attract to the civil service. choices) and/or to monitor site performance. The Department of Defense (DOD) is the lead agency responsible for conducting Federal Wage System (FWS) wage surveys and issuing wage schedules. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has told agencies to plan for a 4.6% pay rise for federal employees in 2023. Yes, Government Executive can email me on behalf of carefully selected companies and organizations. Whats uncertain is whether both civilian and military employees will be paid in regular order. Subscribe to our free email list to get our news updates in your inbox. The Federal Salary Council routinely reports that federal employees are paid substantially less than private sector employees. For the contracting workforce, things may look a bit different. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) posted salary tables online for workers to check their 2023 compensation numbers. Official Time A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website when visited by a Congress. Yes, I want to receive occasional updates from partners. How Can The United States Postal Service Become Profitable? OMB did not respond to a questions about what direction theyre giving to agencies. intended if you do so. January 2023 Pay Examples - U.S. Office of Personnel Management The January 2023 federal employee pay raise will be decided within days, almost certainly through Congress allowing President Bidens recommended average 4.6 percent increase to take effect by default. NARFE National President William Shackelford issued a statement upon the Social Security Fairness Act, H.R. That helps guard against the potential for a shutdown and provides an incentive to pass full-year appropriations across-the-board, Hatton said. It also would be paid to members of the uniformed services who earn an annual salary of $45,000 or less. Historically, people have been paid retroactively in the event of a government shutdown, but thats small comfort if youre waiting for a deposit in your bank account, and youre an Airman First Class or a GS-12, said Michele Pearce, former general counsel of the Department of the Army and lawyer at Covington. Locality pay is a reason, probably the primary reason, for the difference between the approved pay raise and the actual increase. The 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. Where are these new locations? DOD's Civilian Personnel Advisory Service maintains a website with all FWS wage schedules. Steve Lenkart, executive director of the National Federation of Federal Employees, told Global Government Forum that federal unions are elated that the Biden administration recognised the impact that inflation and the rising cost of living is having on the government workforce. internet device. Please note that not all of the investments and services mentioned are available in every state. The rapid increase in inflation is improving the prospects of a large 2023 COLA. GAO Less is known about how this complex system increases federal employee salary levels without direct Congressional or presidential involvement. As outlined in this chart, the average pay raise approved for federal employees from 2017-2022 was 2.12%. Pay Raise technologies for the following purposes: We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to What is X-date, and what happens if US defaults on debt? The amount of the actual pay raise paid for this period was 5.08%. Mr. Zurndorfer is not affiliated with Raymond James, and is not authorized to provide investment advice on behalf of Raymond James, to solicit or refer investors to Raymond James, or to act for or bind Raymond James. While that may be true, the reality is often different than the underpayment of 23% or so that is portrayed. used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. President Biden and House appropriators seem thus far to be in agreement that federal employees should receive an average 4.6% pay raise next year, but there are still several steps officials must take before it can be implemented at the end of the year. You may opt out of our use of such The 2023 pay tables from OPM note that the 2023 pay rate for this one new area includes the 4.1% general schedule increase and a locality payment of 17.94%.. able to use or see these sharing tools. NARFE National President William Shackelford issued a statement in response to reports that President Joseph R. Biden will propose a 5.2% average federal pay increase for calendar year 2024 in his fiscal year 2024 budget request to Congress. Here are the actual federal employee salary increases in recent years. Members of a key Senate panel last week signaled that they would support President Biden's plan to grant federal employees and military service members a 5.2% average pay raise next year. According to OMB, paying an inflation bonus as described in the draft legislation would would create significant pay inequities among Federal civilian employees and would also cause other problems about which OMB did not elaborate. 2022 GS rate: $53,377. MSPB performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. The pay raises do not apply to senior political officials, whose pay has been frozen each year since 2014. and analytics partners. language preference or login information. And Senate appropriators likely will write and advance their own version of the bill in their chamber. Federal employees often see information about the average annual pay raise that typically starts paying out in January. All told, the agency estimates the changes will grant nearly 33,000 federal employees a bigger pay raise next year. performance. Annuity All rights reserved. If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have For future pay increases, whats guaranteed is impossible to predict, though thats true of most years even without a budget crisis. FEHB For senior enlisted and junior officers, the hike equals about . The federal government sets pay annually in one of two ways. Budget Senate Panel Backs 5.2 Percent 2024 Federal Employee Raise - FEDweek A draft bill in Congress is proposing paying some federal employees a 2023 inflation bonus to help offset rapidly rising inflation. Raymond James is not responsible for the content of any website or the collection or use of information regarding any website's users and/or members. 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The actual pay increase for employees in Washington was a lower percentage than it was for all federal employees. The chart includes data for Washington, DC as well. The 5.1% recommendation is the largest raise included in the FAIR act since it was first introduced in 2016, when it proposed 5.3% for the 2017 raise which ended up being 2.6%. TSP The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has told agencies to plan for a 4.6% pay rise for federal employees in 2023. Erich Wagner | June 15, 2022 Pay & Benefits Watch Pay Raise IRS A House panel on Wednesday unveiled its fiscal 2023 appropriations bill for financial services and general government,. Also, the president raised the minimum wage for federal employees to $15/hr. Must be only federal employees need raises they dont make enough as it is, Your email address will not be published. The 2.4% amount would be based on the annual rate of basic pay for eligible employees that is in effect on the first day of the applicable pay period. Although pockets of Congress have made pushes to get the pay increase slightly higher at 5.1%, both the proposed bill and letter to the President proved ineffective. But tracking an upcoming raise for feds has begun back in February since 2016, when the first iteration of the FAIR act was introduced. cookies (and the associated sale of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. For this article, FedSmith has compiled a listing of average federal salary figures, the average salary for federal employees in Washington, DC, the amount of the approved raise by Congress and the president, and the actual pay increase each year based on average federal employee salaries. Then, Biden must issue an executive order before the end of the year to finalize the pay plan so that it can be implementing for the first pay period in January. In the memo, OPM Director Kiran Ahuja states that no agency requested a January 2023 adjustment for special rates different from the default amount. Director Ahuja set the special rates amount at 4.1 percent, in line with President Bidens plan. to learn more. Federal employees each year receive pay adjustments across the board, based on the Employment Cost Index for private industry workers minus 0.5 percentage points. The 2023 pay raise in the most recent version of the bill is 5.1%, but that figure is actually an average when factoring in locality pay. That did not occur for 2023 but will likely be implemented in 2024. VA That process typically takes a number of months. And last month, the House Appropriations Committee advanced the spending bill that serves as the vehicle for provisions related to federal worker compensation, without any mention of a pay raise, effectively endorsing the White House plan. Most federal workers to get more leave in 2023, OPM says etc.). Travel This article Backlog It just wasnt integrated. Opinions about whether federal salaries are too high or too low or about right often depend on the economic interest of the person holding the opinion. Vaccinations the_burtons/Getty Images. tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. What is one of the strengths and most important requirements for all government contractors? A 2023 Pay Raise Update, and More - Government Executive However, its still the case that the Presidents Budget for 2024 calls for a 5.2% pay raise and the fact that nothing in this agreement changes that is a good sign.. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. Tens of thousands more federal employees are to be added into the locality pay system when the rule-making process is concluded, probably in 2024. They are capable of Keep in mind that the 2023 inflation bonus proposed in the draft NDAA bill is still just that, a draft, and despite the proposed 2023 federal pay raise in the White House budget and reiteration of that raise in the OMB policy statement, the 2023 federal pay raise process will not be finalized until later this year. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a sale of your data under the CCPA. The White House is strongly opposed to paying such a bonus to these federal employees. This puts the total number of locality pay areas at 57. Pentagon officials told Barna that theyre being told to keep coming to work until directed otherwise. 2023 FedSmith Inc. All rights reserved. We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by How to assess the security of your data and prepare for increasing threats. They Follow Ralph on Twitter: @RalphSmith47. website. Biden officially plans 4.6% average pay raise for federal employees in 2023 see some advertising, regardless of your selection. While most federal workers will get more leave time, the maximum carryover amount for annual leave - 240 hours for most employees and 360 hours for overseas employees - won't change, OPM said. Draft spending bill cuts telework and bans transgender care for feds The Federal Salary Council (FSC)recently recommended adding four more areasto be designated as locality pay areas. able to use or see these sharing tools. website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site COLA Once the debt impasse resolves and the normal appropriations process resumes, spending caps proposed for the next two years could indirectly affect the debate over federal pay in the appropriations process.