Federal Employees Earn Raise in the New Year
In an executive order, President Biden has approved an average 2.7 percent pay raise for federal civilian employees on December 22, 2021. The increase will be reflected in the first pay period of 2022 and restores pay parity between civilian employees and military personnel.
In some cases, employees will receive a slightly higher salary based on their location while in others they may receive less since the salary increase averages out. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) published detailed pay tables that describe pay rates by locality on December 23.
The raise provides federal employees with a 2.2 percent pay raise across-the-board, as well as an average pay increase of 0.5 percent in locality pay. In comparison, federal employees received a 1 percent raise at the beginning of 2021, with no locality bump.
Although, the average raise remains smaller than the 3.1 percent raise federal employees got in 2020. Federal workforce organizations lobbied Congress for a 3.2 percent pay raise, or a 2.2 percent pay increase and a 1 percent average increase in locality pay. However, Congressional Democrats expressed support for the 2.7 percent federal pay raise earlier this year, remaining silent on the issue throughout the appropriations.
"It’s important to note that this pay raise was calculated based on the annual change in private sector wages and salaries a year ago, well before current inflation woes. That means Feds will see more in their paychecks but get less for their money next year," stated Ken Thomas, National President of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE), in response to the order, "It will be crucial that the Biden administration adhere to the same method of determining increases in the next year, so the 2023 pay raise reflects recent changes in wage inflation."
This order was the last step required by the president to finalize any kind of pay adjustments for General Schedule employees, which originally appeared in the administration's fiscal 2022 budget.
