AFGE is calling on the White House and Congress to give federal workers a 5.1% pay increase in 2023 as called for in a bill recently introduced in Congress.
The White House will propose a 4.6% raise for federal workers next year when its FY 2023 budget request comes out, but in order to allow feds to catch up with employees doing the same jobs in non-federal sectors, their raise should be at least 5.1%, the amount called for in the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR Act). In fact, even 5.1% would not cover the accelerating cost of living we’re currently experiencing.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), bases its increase on a formula that would help close the pay gaps between the federal sector and the private sector and state and local government. Federal workers are underpaid by about 23% compared with those doing the same jobs in non-federal sectors.
Congress in 1990 passed the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act (FEPCA) to close the pay gap between federal workers and their non-federal counterparts using the principle of local labor market comparability, not cost of living. That means government workers should be paid about the same as those doing similar work locally in the private sector. But successive administrations and Congresses have failed to adhere to the principle, causing federal workers’ pay to lag behind what their counterparts are paid in the private sector and state and local government.
The purchasing power of federal salaries has declined by 9.2% since 2011, and that only includes inflation data through December 2021.
YEAR
|
FEDERAL PAY RAISE
|
INFLATION
|
2011
|
0
|
3.6%
|
2012
|
0
|
1.7%
|
2013
|
0
|
1.5%
|
2014
|
1.0%
|
1.7%
|
2015
|
1.0%
|
0
|
2016
|
1.0%
|
0.3%
|
2017
|
1.6%
|
2.0%
|
2018
|
1.8%
|
2.8%
|
2019
|
1.9%
|
2.3%
|
2020
|
3.1%
|
1.4%
|
2021
|
1.0%
|
7.0%
|
2022
|
2.7%
|
n/a
|
Total
|
15.1
|
24.3%
|
“It is clear that federal salaries are in need of adjustment,” said AFGE Public Policy Director Jacque Simon. “Not only are federal employees paid less than their counterparts in the private sector and state and local government, but their wages and salaries also do not begin to keep up with the cost of living.”
“This practice is penny-wise and pound foolish, undermining agencies’ best efforts at recruitment and retention of a high-quality federal workforce,” she added.