Fedweek

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In general employees in city areas where salary rates already are the highest would again benefit the most from locality adjustments to their pay as part of the average 3.1 percent federal pay raise that is now on the books.

President Trump signed a pair of bills on Friday, Dec 20th to fully fund federal agencies for the remainder of the current fiscal year and prevent a partial shutdown. The deal provides for an average 3.1 percent raise for federal employees beginning in January. See,  Spending Bill Signed to Avoid Shutdown, 3.1 Percent Federal Raise

Bureau of Labor Statistics data presented at the most recent Federal Salary Council meeting show that the San-Jose-San Francisco-Oakland area would receive the largest locality increase, based on the pay gap there—a gap that persists even though that area already has the highest rates.

Also high on the list would be other areas also with among the highest rates including Los Angeles, New York, Washington-Baltimore, San Diego, Seattle-Tacoma, Boston, Alaska (which is a locality in its entirety) and Houston. Also standing to receive one of the biggest raises would be the Laredo, Texas area, where the pay gap rose by more than 25 percentage points in one year (the report attributed that to technical issues that had an outsized impact due to a small sample size).

The smallest raises would go to the rest of the U.S. locality outside the designated zones, and Corpus Christi, Texas, Palm Bay, Fla., Indianapolis, and Tucson, Ariz.

More on the general schedule system and locality pay at ask.FEDweek.com