Need to know: 3.9 percent pay raise effective first pay period in 2009

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Need to know: 3.9 percent pay raise effective first pay period in 2009

It's great being a recession proof federal employee!

By Richard Hartman Dec 21 2008, 06:19 AM

While an estimated 10.3 million people across the nation are unemployed, state employees are being furloughed, and countless more workers are concerned about impending layoffs or company closings, the federal government is like the "Energizer Bunny"...it keeps going and going.

Last Thursday, President Bush issued an executive order which implements the 3.9 percent pay increases for federal employees included in the Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance and Continuing Appropriations Act passed in September.

The 3.9 percent increase brings the 2009 civilian pay increase in line with the raise for members of the military. For General Schedule employees, base pay will range from $17,540 for employees in Grade 1, Step 1, to $127,604 for employees in Grade 15, Step 10. For employees in the Senior Executive Service, pay will range from $117,787 to $177,000 for executives in agencies with certified SES performance appraisal systems, and from $117,787 to $162,900 in agencies without such systems.

It's even better being a recession proof fed in the national capital region. Employees in the Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia area will receive the highest total pay adjustment, at 4.78 percent. Those in the "rest of U.S." category will get an overall boost of 3.52 percent.

For a complete percentage increase break down see the Office of Personnel Management 2009 locality pay tables which accompanied the Executive Order.

[+] Federal Pay Outpaces Private Sector?

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David
December 22, 2008 1:25 PM

And I'll still be underpaid.

A Postal Wife
July 24, 2009 7:34 AM

It's funny how much outrage the thought of a raise for public workers engenders. When someone in private industry gets a raise, we congratulate them. But I guess everyone feels entitled to every dollar of pay that a federal worker receives, as if we're stealing it from your dinner table instead of earning it.

My husband has worked for the postal service for 20-some years. After 20-some years, he has managed to get a day job with Thursdays and Fridays off. He may never get a job with a weekend day off (let alone 2), particularly as they've been cutting jobs over the past six months. In fact, he may end up back on night shift soon. Hear me out; I'm not complaining - I am responding to your complaints, and trying to reveal to you some of the real people you are talking about with such disgust and hostility.

In his job as a dock worker / forklift operator, my husband still earns the same pay level (GS 4) that he earned when he joined the PO. Without changing jobs, there are no merit increases at the PO. If he did not receive a COLA, he would be working today for the same salary he earned in 1987. Over the past fifteen years, since they adjusted the formula used to calculate the consumer price index, the CPI has been very low, and COLAs have been very low - sometimes less than one percent. Last year, the COLA was 2.9 percent. Meanwhile, I saw a box of macaroni and cheese go from 79 cents to $1.39, and gas to $3.75. But they don't factor food into the CPI. Go figure. Let's just say the COLA often fails to keep up with the true inflation rate. If you don't believe me, check out the statistics on CPI versus real inflation over the past decade. But numbers are so boring when you can just spew hate.

That luxury-job do-nothing-slob federal employee you so resent "supporting" (Oh, wait - we pay taxes, too) - includes people who unload your mail and sort it and bring it to your homes and businesses. My husband works hard, physically, five days a week. He has to take vacation to attend family weddings and other occasions that occur on Saturdays. In exchange we make a decent middle-class living (I also work).

And, again, I am not complaining - I didn't start this thread - I am responding to your complaints. My husband is grateful and relieved to have a job today, and has always felt that way about his job.

I do think you should try getting out and talking to some of the people you feel are stealing money from you by having a job in the public sector. They're not all fat-cat congressmen with their feet propped up on a desk pulling in $100,000 a year. Most federal employees are about as hard-working as most private employees. They earn decent but unremarkable salaries for it. And they depend on COLAS to keep pace with inflation. Whoopee.

The bigger question is why you have such a sense of entitlement to the wages my husband earns. If you don't want to pay him, I'll ask him to set your mail aside on the dock, and you can drive out every week and pick it up yourself, on your own dime and your own time.