{
  "id": "RL31291",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL31291",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 102732,
      "date": "2003-03-25",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-08T14:49:49.190544",
      "title": "Federal Pay: FY2003 Salary Adjustments",
      "summary": "Federal white-collar employees are to receive an annual pay adjustment and a locality-based\ncomparability payment, effective in January of each year, under Section 529 of  P.L. 101-509 , the\nFederal Employees Pay Comparability Act (FEPCA) of 1990. In January 2003, they received a 3.1%\nannual pay adjustment under Executive Order 13282 issued by President Bush on December 31,\n2002 and a locality-based comparability payment, averaging about 1.0% of the General Schedule\npayroll, under Executive Order 13291 issued by the President on March 21, 2003. The locality pay\nadjustment is retroactive to January 2003. (The December 31, 2002 executive order had frozen the\nlocality-based comparability payments at the levels authorized for January 2002.) The cost of the\ncombined pay adjustments is about $3.8 billion dollars. Although the federal pay adjustments are\nsometimes referred to as cost-of-living adjustments, neither the annual adjustment nor the locality\npayment is based on measures of the cost of living.\n  The annual pay adjustment is based on the Employment Cost Index (ECI), which measures\nchange in private-sector wages and salaries. The index showed that the annual across-the-board\nincrease would be 3.1% in January 2003. The size of the locality payment is determined by the\nPresident, and is based on a comparison of non-federal and General Schedule (GS) salaries in 32 pay\nareas nationwide. By law, the disparity between non-federal and federal salaries was to be gradually\nreduced to 5% over the years 1994 through 2002; FEPCA requires that amounts payable may not be\nless than the full amount necessary to reduce the pay disparity to 5% in January 2003. The Federal\nSalary Council and the Pay Agent recommend that the 2003 locality payments range from 22.41%\nin the \"Rest of the United States\" (RUS) pay area to 46.79% in the San Francisco pay area. The\npayment recommended for the Washington, DC, pay area was 28.93%. Because the new locality\nrate replaces the existing locality rate, the change in locality rates is derived by comparing 2002\nlocality payments with those recommended for 2003. This comparison resulted in recommended\nincreases in locality rates from 2002 to 2003 ranging from 16.17% in the RUS pay area to 27.13%\nin the San Francisco pay area, with a rise of 19.24% in the Washington, DC, pay area. The\nnationwide average net pay increase, if the ECI and locality-based comparability payments were\ngranted as stipulated in FEPCA, would have been 18.56%. President George Bush's FY2003 budget\nproposed a 2.6% federal civilian pay adjustment.\n  FEPCA has never been implemented as originally enacted. Since 1995, locality payments have\nbeen much lower than FEPCA requires.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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          "encoding": null,
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL31291",
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      ],
      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "American Law",
    "Economic Policy"
  ]
}