The employment cost index measure for the pertinent measuring period for the January 2004 raise is 3.2 percent. Under pay law, the ECI figure is supposed to be reduced by a half percentage point (in this case, to 2.7 percent) and that amount is to be paid out as across-the-board raises to general schedule employees, while locality pay is paid to virtually close the indicated pay gap with the private sector. However, the locality pay program has never been fully funded, and in many years the reduced ECI figure alone has become the starting point for raise deliberations. A starting recommendation linked to inflation as measured by the consumer price index would break from that pattern.