Federal employees would receive an average base pay increase of 3.8 percent in the year 2000 under a formula based on Employment Cost Index figures released recently by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Under the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act (FEPCA), base pay increases for employees under the General Schedule are supposed to be set at one-half a percentage point below the change in the ECI for private industry wages and salaries. This year's ECI change, measured from September 1997 to September 1998, was 4.3 percent.
FEPCA also uses another formula to add a locality pay increase to each year's base pay raise. Locality rates have not been set for 2000.
In August, while announcing the 1999 pay raise, President Clinton indicated that he plans to propose a combined base pay and locality pay increase of 4.4 percent in 2000.
"Today, the government operates more efficiently and better serves the American people," Clinton said in the announcement. "This success would not have been possible without government employees who have been called upon to work harder and to do more with less."
Congress has approved President Clinton's proposal for an average 3.6 percent pay raise for 1999. The Office of Personnel Management is currently working on determining how to divide the raise among locality and base pay.
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