Pay Law Calls for 14 Percent Raise

By: fedweek

Following federal pay law for setting the January 2008 general schedule raise would result in an average raise of 14.08 percent, the Congressional Research Service has said. That figure is based on a calculation related to the measured pay gaps between federal and non-federal jobs in the metropolitan areas with their own locality pay rates, plus the catchall “rest of the U.S.” locality for other locations within the contiguous 48 states. The net increases, counting both the across-the-board and locality components, would range from 7.23 percent in the rest of the U.S. locality to 21.21 percent in the San Francisco locality, CRS said. The pay law formula, set in 1990, has never been followed according to design, however, and for 2008 President Bush has recommended a 3 percent average raise.