Pay Gap Widens a Bit

Meanwhile, the Federal Salary Council has concluded that federal employees on average earn 35.4 percent less than their private sector counterparts, with the pay gap ranging the widest in theSan Francisco-San Jose area and the smallest in thecatchall “rest of the U.S.” pay zone. The council—an advisory body of union officials and outside compensation experts—produced that estimate at its annual meeting, based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The widening of the gap was expected since federal pay rates have been frozen since last year’s report put the gap at 34.6 percent—the only surprise being that it didn’t grow even more. The council makes recommendations on pay to a higher-level group called the President’s Pay Agent. That recommendation follows the indicated pay gap figure even though as a practical matter no serious consideration has been to paying raises as large as the figures indicate. Other studies, using different sets of numbers and different types of comparisons, have produced a widely mixed range of conclusions, including one by a conservative think tank finding federal workers on average overpaid by about as much as the government’s method shows them underpaid. About the only point of agreement among those on opposing sides is that within whatever figure is said to be the average, there is wide variation by educational level, occupation, location and other factors within that average. The council meanwhile again recommended adding 12 new localities with their own separate pay rates, which would produce higher pay starting in 2015 for affected employees. The cities would be Albany, Albuquerque, Austin, Charlotte, ColoradoSprings, Davenport, Harrisburg, Laredo, Las Vegas, Palm Bay, St. Louis and Tucson. Exact boundary lines would have to be determined.