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The bill is not to give federal employees merit raises...
but cost of living raises.~
Federal employees do not receive cost-of-living raised (COLAs) based on the Consumer Price Index (inflation) and haven't since the early 1990s. They receive annual pay raises based on the ECI (Employment Cost Increase) which measures the average raises that private sector employees received during the preceding year. The pay raise (not COLA) for 2010 was supposed to be 2.4%, but Obama recommended, and Congress approved, a reduction to 2.0%. Here's a link that explains how it works:
Even though federal employees don't receive COLAs anymore, the general public (and some Congressmen such as Steny Hoyer apparently) still refer to the outdated term.
Federal employees do not receive cost-of-living raised (COLAs) based on the Consumer Price Index (inflation) and haven't since the early 1990s. They receive annual pay raises based on the ECI (Employment Cost Increase) which measures the average raises that private sector employees received during the preceding year. The pay raise (not COLA) for 2010 was supposed to be 2.4%, but Obama recommended, and Congress approved, a reduction to 2.0%. Here's a link that explains how it works:
Even though federal employees don't receive COLAs anymore, the general public (and some Congressmen such as Steny Hoyer apparently) still refer to the outdated term.
Thanks for the post, it in someways is comparable to the misuse of the word bonus for many wall street employees when that is their basic salary. It makes for a great press however.
Read the quote [below] from the topic article from Federal News Radio.
They use the term, "cost of living adjustment."
The article is using incorrect terminology. Federal employees do not receive COLAs and their pay is not tied to the index the SS is. The average Fed. employee is both highly educated and skilled - much higher than the average population at large. Low skill/education jobs in the Fed. govt are mostly performed by contractors nowadays.
The index MadMan cited is based on the pay rates of the private sector for the same jobs and is now about 26% less than they get paid - even after the economic problems. Not once since the index was instituted has the Fed pay matched the index in any area of the country.
Last year and the 2 years before, the Fed pay raise was over a percentage point lower than the COLA received by SS recipients so even this tiny raise does not keep up with recent inflation. The military pay raise is a point higher than the Civil service for the first time ever. Why not complain about how highly paid they are?
As usual, a single pice of information compared to something not related is blown out of porportion and creates a false sense of outrage.
Read the quote [below] from the topic article from Federal News Radio.
They use the term, "cost of living adjustment."
Yes, and they (and Steny Hoyer) are wrong. I know, I know - the press is hardly ever wrong, right?
COLA is for retirees.
Pay raise is for employees.
The pay raise is sometimes referred to as a pay adjustment, or a General Schedule increase, and is for current employees only (since us retired folks don't get paid, we can't get a pay raise, we get a cost of living adjustment).
My husband worked for the Fed Gov at a time when salaries were much lower, MUCH LOWER, than private industry and what kept him there was the promise of a good retirement. He was a grossly underpaid MBA who could have made double what he made on the outside. We have a term for what you're spewing, JS1. It's called 'pension envy'. And btw, the notion that Fed workers are lazy is ridiculous. I spent birthdays, Mother's Days, Halloweens, alone while my husband was working. He wasn't sneaking out early or at the golf course. He was the last one to leave his desk and a lot of times he had planes to catch on a Sunday. Most Federal retirees earned their benefits.
My husband worked for the Fed Gov at a time when salaries were much lower, MUCH LOWER, than private industry and what kept him there was the promise of a good retirement. He was a grossly underpaid MBA who could have made double what he made on the outside. We have a term for what you're spewing, JS1. It's called 'pension envy'. And btw, the notion that Fed workers are lazy is ridiculous. I spent birthdays, Mother's Days, Halloweens, alone while my husband was working. He wasn't sneaking out early or at the golf course. He was the last one to leave his desk and a lot of times he had planes to catch on a Sunday. Most Federal retirees earned their benefits.
Thank you for that because it applies to all government workers. People too easily forget that members of the military, police, firefighters, etc. are government workers. As a government manager I was on-call 24/7, was often in early and out late, had call-backs that sometimes lasted from 9:00 p.m. until 3:00 a.m., worked many weekends and traveled extensively.
I won't apologize for my defined-benefit pension, Social Security income or my lifetime medical and dental coverage. I earned them, as did my wife, as do most of us.
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