Dissatisfaction with Pay System Comes Through

The Pay Agent had this to say about the pay comparisons that underlie the locality pay system: “as has been noted in earlier reports and discussed in other venues, there is a need to consider reforms of the white-collar federal pay system, which utilizes a process requiring a single percentage adjustment in the pay of all white-collar civilian federal employees in each locality pay area without regard to the differing labor markets for major occupational groups. In addition, we believe the underlying model and methodology for estimating pay gaps should be reexamined to ensure that private sector and federal sector pay comparisons are as accurate as possible.” According to the official figures produced last year following the BLS study, federal employees on average earn 35.4 percent less than their private sector counterparts, a figure far off from the results of studies using other data and other methodologies. That includes one by CBO which found that salaries overall are about comparable, but that federal employees with lesser levels of education are at an advantage, while those with a four-year college degree or more—which constitutes the large majority of the workforce—are at a disadvantage.