Locality Pay Split Also Recommended

Meanwhile, the salary council recommended that if the January 2004 general schedule pay raise is 4.1 percent-as would be provided under appropriations bills now pending in Congress-that 2.7 percentage points of that amount be paid out across-the-board to all GS employees and the funds available for the remainder be split up as locality pay. The action effectively would mean raises ranging from about 3.8 percent in the “rest of the U.S.” locality to about 5.3 percent in the highest-paid locality, San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose. However, that recommendation, too, is subject to review by the Pay Agent and the White House is continuing to advocate only a 2 percent total raise, which it would split as 1.5 percent across-the-board and 0.5 percent for locality pay.