While dealing with unfinished 2006 work, Congress will have to start work in about a month on the fiscal 2008 budget; the annual proposal from the White House is expected in about a month. One item to be dealt with in that effort will be the January 2008 raise. The employment cost index figure for the pertinent measuring period for that increase was 3 percent; under federal pay law, a half percentage point is supposed to be shaved off that amount in order to keep employees roughly apace with private sector wage growth, and automatic locality pay is supposed to be paid in addition, in order to close local pay gaps. That system has never been implemented as designed, however, and as a practical matter the annual raise is handled as one of the numerous issues in the budget process.