GovCentral

2011 Government General Schedule Pay Scale

Chris McConnell | GovCentral — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 11:34:00 -0800

The President issued a two-year pay freeze for civilian government employees. This will freeze pay at its current 2010 levels. Scroll down below to see the 2011 government pay scale.

Find the pay locality in your area at GovCentral's Pay Scale Channel

ATLANTA-SANDY SPRINGS-GAINESVILLE, GA-AL

BOSTON-WORCESTER-MANCHESTER, MA-NH-RI-ME

BUFFALO-NIAGARA-CATTARAUGUS, NY

CHICAGO-NAPERVILLE-MICHIGAN CITY, IL-IN-WI

CINCINNATI-MIDDLETOWN-WILMINGTON, OH-KY-IN

CLEVELAND-AKRON-ELYRIA, OH

COLUMBUS-MARION-CHILLICOTHE, OH

DALLAS-FORT WORTH, TX

DAYTON-SPRINGFIELD-GREENVILLE, OH

DENVER-AURORA-BOULDER, CO

DETROIT-WARREN-FLINT, MI

HARTFORD-WEST HARTFORD-WILLIMANTIC, CT-MA

HOUSTON-BAYTOWN-HUNTSVILLE, TX

HUNTSVILLE-DECATUR, AL

INDIANAPOLIS-ANDERSON-COLUMBUS, IN

LOS ANGELES-LONG BEACH-RIVERSIDE, CA

MIAMI-FORT LAUDERDALE-POMPANO BEACH, FL

MILWAUKEE-RACINE-WAUKESHA, WI

MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL-ST. CLOUD, MN-WI

NEW YORK-NEWARK-BRIDGEPORT, NY-NJ-CT-PA

PHILADELPHIA-CAMDEN-VINELAND, PA-NJ-DE-MD

PHOENIX-MESA-SCOTTSDALE, AZ

PITTSBURGH-NEW CASTLE, PA

PORTLAND-VANCOUVER-BEAVERTON, OR-WA

RALEIGH-DURHAM-CARY, NC

RICHMOND, VA

SACRAMENTO--ARDEN-ARCADE--YUBA CITY, CA-NV

SAN DIEGO-CARLSBAD-SAN MARCOS, CA

SAN JOSE-SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND, CA

SEATTLE-TACOMA-OLYMPIA, WA

WASHINGTON-BALTIMORE-NORTHERN VIRGINIA, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA

REST OF U.S.

Below is the projected increase for 2010 for the General Schedule.

Salary Table 2010-Gs

Independent analysis of federal and private salary data needed

Dorothy Ramienski | Internet Editor | FederalNewsRadio — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 07:13:00 -0700

The issues surrounding pay and benefits for federal employees continues to be a controversial one.

Federal News Radio told you last week that John Berry, director of the Office of Personnel Management, was incensed at an editorial in the Washington Times last week. That op-ed piece claimed that federal employees don't always work hard to earn their salaries.

Chris Edwards is director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute and recently wrote an article about the issue of federal pay and benefits, and Berry's comments.

"USA Today, I think, did an interesting analysis a week ago, where they actually compared 216 different occupations in the private sector and public sector -- everything from janitor to chemist -- and they found that, in 83 percent of these positions, the federal worker made more in wages. If I was the head of the OPM, I would say -- 'gee, that's interesting results. We'll take a look at that information,' but, rather, he just responded in a very sort of aggressive way that I thought was rather strange."

The Times editorial was written after a recent article from USA Today compared the financial compensation of similar jobs in the public and private sectors.

That article elicited a response from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which said USA Today compared two different sets of data.

Others, such as the Partnership for Public Service, commented on the USA Today analysis, calling it an 'apples to oranges' comparison because of the different nature of public sector and private sector work.

Edwards said he understands why people would say this, but said part of the problem lies with the methodology used to calculate the federal pay gap.

"The current federal pay gap, determined by the Federal Salary Council, is supposed to be 26 percent -- federal worker wages, on average, are supposed to be 26 percent below the private sector. What is really curious about that is, I went back and I looked at, for example, the 2001 Federal Salary Council pay gap number. Back then, it was 22 percent. So, the pay gap has been basically unchanged for years."

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He added that his examination of Bureau of Economic Analysis data shows that federal pay is actually rising much faster, on average, than private sector pay.

"So, this doesn't compute. I think that there's something suspicious going on with the pay gap numbers and I think the USA Today analysis indicates that, too. The federal pay gap calculation is very, very complicated. It's sort of a black box, and there's no published study on it."

To really get to the bottom of the issue, Edwards explained he thinks there needs to be independent compensation consultants involved. He does agree, though, that one must compare job to job.

"Obviously, we have to set federal salaries somehow and we need to look to private markets to do that because we want federal salaries to be competitive. But, we also don't want to pay more in the government sector for two reasons -- one is that there's a taxpayer cost, of course, but secondly, there's an argument that the private sector needs highly skilled workers, as well."

This does not mean, he reiterated, that the federal government doesn't need talented people. What he would like to see, he explained, is federal agencies like OPM and BLM take a look at the overall data regarding federal employee pay and benefits.

"You can look at overall trends here and there does seem to be -- looking at overall, broad data -- a trend in fast-rising federal worker pay and benefits. The USA Today article . . . showed a very big increase in just the last two years. It strikes me that federal officials . . . should be looking into this and trying to discover why these trends are doing what they're doing. I think we need an outside consultant to come in and really look job to job."

This is why he takes issue with the way the pay gap is calculated, he explained.

"They don't actually do a job to job comparison -- private chemist versus public chemist. What they do is, they take a private worker and then they stick him in to where they think a private chemist would be on the GS scale at a certain Step. . . . I think that that current gap methodology is suspicious because the gap seems to have been steady for the last decade or so, and yet, the overall data shows that this acceleration in the federal sector."

There are a variety of reasons that could contribute to this, he added. Private sector wages have stagnated during the recession, making federal jobs seem more lucrative. Also, the push for pay-for-performance at the Defense and Homeland Security Departments could have also been a factor.

"[It] actually caused a big acceleration at the top end in those departments. Pay-for-performance was essentially used as an excuse to give big pay raises to just about everyone -- at least, that's what it seems from the data that they published a month or so ago. So that could have been feeding into this, as well."

Overall, he reiterated that he believes the pay gap methodology is outdated and should be updated to give more accurate results.

NSPS Transition Office Launches Two Web-Based Training Courses

National Security Personnel System — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:47:00 -0800

The NSPS Transition Office has developed two web-based training courses to support employees during the transition. While the courses address the various responsibilities of managers and supervisors, the content is useful for all employees to help them prepare for the transition and gain a level of comfort regarding classification and performance management processes. Courses are described as follows:

Classifying Positions under GS: A Primer for Supervisors describes how positions are classified in the General Schedule (GS). The course covers supervisory roles and responsibilities associated with conversion from NSPS to GS, providing information via four unique lessons: Classification in Context; Introduction to GS Classification; Writing a Position Description; and Addressing Special Situations.

Performance Management: A Tool to Achieve Results provides techniques for conducting performance conversations; methods for setting clear performance goals; practical tips for creating a culture of giving and receiving feedback; steps for rating performance; and ideas for rewarding individual and team performance.

The NSPS Transition Office will continue to develop resources and keep everyone informed as the transition continues.

Federal pay ahead of private industry

Dennis Cauchon | USA TODAY via YellowBrix — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:11:00 -0800

Federal employees earn higher average salaries than private-sector workers in more than eight out of 10 occupations, a USA TODAY analysis of federal data finds.

Accountants, nurses, chemists, surveyors, cooks, clerks and janitors are among the wide range of jobs that get paid more on average in the federal government than in the private sector.

Overall, federal workers earned an average salary of $67,691 in 2008 for occupations that exist both in government and the private sector, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The average pay for the same mix of jobs in the private sector was $60,046 in 2008, the most recent data available.

These salary figures do not include the value of health, pension and other benefits, which averaged $40,785 per federal employee in 2008 vs. $9,882 per private worker, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Federal pay has become a hot political issue in recent months because of concerns over the federal budget deficit and recession-battered wages in the private sector.

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OMB chief calls reports federal employees are overpaid 'misleading'

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Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., made federal pay an issue in his successful campaign to fill Edward Kennedy's seat and is fighting for a pay freeze.

The federal government spends about $125 billion annually on compensation for about 2 million civilian employees.

"The data flip the conventional wisdom on its head," says Cato Institute budget analyst Chris Edwards, a critic of federal pay policy. "Federal workers make substantially more than private workers, not less, in addition to having a large advantage in benefits."

But National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley says the comparison is faulty because it "compares apples and oranges." Federal accountants, for example, perform work that has more complexity and requires more skill than accounting work in the private sector, she says.

"When you look at the actual duties, you see that very few federal jobs align with those in the private sector," she says. She says federal employees are paid an average of 26% less than non-federal workers doing comparable work.

Office of Personnel Management spokeswoman Sedelta Verble, says higher pay also reflects the longevity and older age of federal workers.

USA TODAY used Bureau of Labor Statistics data to compare salaries in every federal job that had a private-sector equivalent. For example, the federal government's 57,000 registered nurses working for the Veterans Administration and elsewhere were paid an average of $74,460 a year, $10,680 more than the average for private-sector nurses.

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The BLS reports that 216 occupations covering 1.1 million federal workers exist in both the federal government and the private sector. An additional 124 federal occupations covering 750,000 employees air-traffic controllers, tax collectors and others did not have direct equivalents, according to the BLS.

Federal jobs have more limited salary ranges than private-sector jobs, some of which have million-dollar payouts.

Key findings:

Federal. The federal pay premium cut across all job categories white-collar, blue-collar, management, professional, technical and low-skill. In all, 180 jobs paid better average salaries in the federal government; 36 paid better in the private sector.

Private. The private sector paid more on average in a select group of high-skill occupations, including lawyers, veterinarians and airline pilots. The government's 5,200 computer research scientists made an average of $95,190, about $10,000 less than the average in the corporate world.

State and local. State government employees had an average salary of $47,231 in 2008, about 5% less than comparable jobs in the private sector. City and county workers earned an average of $43,589, about 2% more than private workers in similar jobs. State and local workers have higher total compensation than private workers when the value of benefits is included.

Job comparison

Average federal salaries exceed average private-sector pay in 83% of comparable occupations. A sampling of average annnual salaries in 2008, the most recent data:

Job	Federal	Private	Difference
Airline pilot, copilot, flight engineer	$93,690	$120,012	-$26,322

Broadcast technician	$90,310	$49,265	$41,045

Budget analyst	$73,140	$65,532	$7,608

Chemist	$98,060	$72,120	$25,940

Civil engineer	$85,970	$76,184	$9,786

Clergy	$70,460	$39,247	$31,213

Computer, information systems manager	$122,020	$115,705	$6,315

Computer support specialist	$45,830	$54,875	-$9,045

Cook	$38,400	$23,279	$15,121

Crane, tower operator	$54,900	$44,044	$10,856

Dental assistant	$36,170	$32,069	$4,101

Economist	$101,020	$91,065	$9,955

Editors	$42,210	$54,803	-$12,593

Electrical engineer	$86,400	$84,653	$1,747

Financial analysts	$87,400	$81,232	$6,168

Graphic designer	$70,820	$46,565	$24,255

Highway maintenance worker	$42,720	$31,376	$11,344

Janitor	$30,110	$24,188	$5,922

Landscape architects	$80,830	$58,380	$22,450

Laundry, dry-cleaning worker	$33,100	$19,945	$13,155

Lawyer	$123,660	$126,763	-$3,103

Librarian	$76,110	$63,284	$12,826

Locomotive engineer	$48,440	$63,125	-$14,685

Machinist	$51,530	$44,315	$7,215

Mechanical engineer	$88,690	$77,554	$11,136

Office clerk	$34,260	$29,863	$4,397

Optometrist	$61,530	$106,665	-$45,135

Paralegals	$60,340	$48,890	$11,450

Pest control worker	$48,670	$33,675	$14,995

Physicians, surgeons	$176,050	$177,102	-$1,052

Physician assistant	$77,770	$87,783	-$10,013

Procurement clerk	$40,640	$34,082	$6,558

Public relations manager	$132,410	$88,241	$44,169

Recreation worker	$43,630	$21,671	$21,959

Registered nurse	$74,460	$63,780	$10,680

Respiratory therapist	$46,740	$50,443	-$3,703

Secretary	$44,500	$33,829	$10,671

Sheet metal worker	$49,700	$43,725	$5,975

Statistician	$88,520	$78,065	$10,455

Surveyor	$78,710	$67,336	$11,374

White House proposes 1.4 percent pay raise

Jason Miller | Executive Editor | FederalNewsRadio — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:02:00 -0800

President Obama is proposing to give federal employees and military servicemen and women the same pay raise-1.4 percent-the lowest recommendation in almost 40 years

The President submitted his fiscal 2011 budget to Congress today detailing several proposals, including an entire section devoted to the federal workforce and data about everything from retirements to pay to education levels.

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The 1.4 percent across the board pay raise is lower than the 2 percent civilian federal employee and 3.4 percent military men and women received in 2010, and down from 3.9 percent in 2009. The Congressional Research Service reported in 2006 every federal employee pay raise since 1970. The previous lowest amount was 2 percent in 1988. Congress still must agree to the President's proposal, which history shows they rarely do. This year is one of the few times Congress agreed with the White House's proposal.

"In 2009, full-time, year-round federal civilian employees earned on average 21 percent more than workers in the private sector, according to Current Population Survey data collected by the Census Bureau," the White House states in the budget request. "However, a raw comparison of these numbers masks important differences in education levels of federal and private sector employees. About 20 percent of federal workers have a master's degree, professional degree or doctorate versus only 13 percent in the private sector. A full 51 percent of federal employees have at least a college degree compared to 35 percent in the private sector."

Learn more at the Pay Scale channel

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NSPS Transition Planning Continues

National Security Personnel System — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 09:48:00 -0800

The Department of Defense announced that the majority of NSPS employees are scheduled to transition to non-NSPS personnel systems by September 30, 2010, more than a year earlier than required by the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2010. This statute requires all employees to transition from NSPS by no later than January 1, 2012 with no loss of or decrease in pay upon conversion. Most employees will transition into the General Schedule (GS) personnel system.

Components and DoD organizations are in the final stages of determining their transition dates, and plans are being submitted to the NSPS Transition Office for approval. Employees will be notified of the transition date for their NSPS organizations once plans are approved.

NSPS Transition Office Director John H. James, Jr. is leading the transition effort: “We encourage organizations to share details of the transition with their workforce where appropriate. We will work to keep everyone informed as processes are solidified.”

The Department is aware that employees have many questions about the transition, particularly regarding job classification and pay. Some decisions have been made:

Classification specialists, or supervisors and managers with delegated classification authority, will determine an employee’s grade upon transition from NSPS based on the employee’s assigned duties and responsibilities. For example, if a position classifies as a GS-13 under the General Schedule, then the employee’s grade will be a GS-13 when he or she transitions to the GS system.

NSPS employees who are paid a salary that exceeds Step 10, the highest step of their pay grade under the GS system, will retain their pay upon transition.

Additional details are provided in a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs).

Obama Issues Order Implementing 2010 Pay Raise

Kellie Lunney | Government Executive — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 05:34:00 -0800

President Obama on December 23, 2009 issued an executive order implementing a 2.0 pay raise for federal employees and a 3.4 percent pay raise for service members in 2010.

Find the pay scale for your area

The executive order reflects the pay rates included in the fiscal 2010 omnibus spending package and Defense Appropriations Act approved this month by Congress and signed into law by the president. Congressional appropriators honored Obama's request for a 2.0 percent increase in pay for civilian employees in the omnibus. Obama proposed in November that the entire raise go to base pay. But lawmakers instead devoted 1.5 percent of the raise to base pay and 0.5 percent of it to locality pay, a move federal employee advocates had recommended.

The military pay raise, included in the fiscal 2010 Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 3326), was 0.5 percent higher than the 2.9 percent raise Obama requested in his initial budget proposal.

For General Schedule employees, base pay will range from $17,803 for employees in Grade 1, Step 1, to $129,517 for employees in Grade 15, Step 10. For employees in the Senior Executive Service, pay will range from $119,554 to $179,700 for executives in agencies with certified SES performance appraisal systems, and from $119,554 to $165,300 in agencies without such systems.

The locality pay rates for 2010 are listed by region in Schedule 9 of an attachment to the executive order. Employees located in the Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia-West Virginia-Pennsylvania region will receive a 1.12 percent bump from 2009, from 23.10 percent to 24.22 percent in 2010.

The pay raise takes effect on Jan. 1, 2010, or on the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after Jan. 1.