Meanwhile, DoD has said that the January 2008 raises for roughly 110,000 employees under NSPS averaged 5.9 percent. That is substantially higher than the average 3.5 percent increase for federal employees in general, although increases for the two groups are difficult to compare directly. For non-NSPS white-collar employees, the raise was paid as 2.5 percent across-the-board and 1 percentage point divided up as locality pay that ranged from about 0.5 percent to about 2 percent. Those employees also are eligible for within-grade raises, which are worth about 3 percent of salary every one, two, or three years, plus performance-based step increases and other forms of incentive pay. NSPS does not have within-grade increases because it uses a pay banding system in which funds for such increases, along with funds for other types of incentive pay, are put in the performance pay pool. Under NSPS, the 2008 payout was broken down as a 1.5 percent "pay band adjustment" increase in base salary, a locality supplement equivalent to GS locality pay, 3.4 percent as a performance-based pay increase, plus an average additional 1.7 percent performance-based bonus (which unlike pay increases does not count toward retirement), bringing the average total increase to 7.6 percent.
