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Return to Article: Likely 2009 raise figure comes in at 3.4 percent

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  what will my raise for 705.00 a month?

  helen weskamp Posted October 18, 2008 10:11 PM
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  I just started receiving my Social Security and am happy with it. With my military pension I am okay, not rich but get by ok. My only complaint is when Jimmy Carter granted Social Security to people from outside the country to be entitled to it without having worked a day. I worked for 45 years to earn mine. Too many people out there getting it that didn't earn it.

  Michael P. Loomis Posted October 16, 2008 11:05 AM
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  I worked very hard and made good money but then I got multiple sclerosis and had to retire without a retirement so I have to depend on social security for my income and really need a good COLA. There is a lot of judgemental comments here about poor or disabled people. No one wants to be poor or disabled. Grow up please and have some compassion.

  shae bevan Posted August 28, 2008 10:54 AM
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  I work for DOE. Given that 80% of the people I work with don't earn even the money they make now - being lazy, overprotected and without incentive to achieve (or die!), 3.4% is a HUGE increase in pay to the largest employer in the country.

  Richard Posted August 9, 2008 6:45 PM
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  Since the method of computing CPI or COLAs was changed---it is ridiculous. If you accepted retirement with the expectations of maintainging (as I did) your insurance and parity income, too bad. The cpi is not realistic, the insurance (Baltimore County Bd. of Education) went up so high and they reduced the participation below the contracted amount, to the point it was taking half the retirement ck so---drop the ins. and go "bear back" to a medicare type.With the price of drugs a retired person (with drug needs) is on a wing and a prayer.The hinge came off the wagon when Regan put down the Air Controllers---all workers lost wage power--now they say we will have unexperienced air controllers;flying is costly and a misery. We may have to go back to WW-2 type gas rationing, to control our waste, and defeat the arab oil control over us. Our national debt had run up so high, where will the noney come from? Yet, we are truly fortunate people and thankful.

  Henry L. King Posted July 26, 2008 12:47 PM
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  How do we pay for the high cost of health care,gasoline and food that keeps going up and our raises dont even begin to get us even,we fall further behind after the raise than we were befor.

  Eddy Mullendore Posted July 11, 2008 11:32 PM
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  Raise my butt!! With gas/energy cost property tax, and health insurance cost we all take a pay cut hardly ever do we see an actual raise. FEHB see's the raise and increases premiums to match! The raise goes to foreign oil and coorperate America/Saudi Arabia.

  Chris Posted July 9, 2008 1:07 PM
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  Diesel is at $4.80 now and they were suggesting alternate fuel, well so much for that. The 3.4% should be more like 10.4% to cover the actual cost of living increases.

  HMMM Posted June 11, 2008 6:39 PM
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  Hmmm I hear you Louis. I live in a rural area too and commute round trip to work and back 74 miles per day. The miles have racked up on my car, insurance rates are based on how many miles I drive per year and gasoline is costing me around $250.00 per month (more than my average monthly utilities run me)! It's outrageous and pay raises don't cover the costs. I just recently requested to go to ten hour workdays four days a week just so I can reduce one day a week driving to and from work and got approved. Just means now I'm up earlier and home later, but it will help some. Pay raises at the amounts don't cover the cost of living increases and then on top of that, taxes go up, health insurance, dental and vision premiums go up so it ends up that you make the same net you made the previous year! Go figure!

  Connie Posted December 19, 2007 4:34 PM
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  I've never met a pay raise I did not at least like. It sounds great for those who may actually see that raise. However after reading some of the GE Mag articles on the NSPS I have serious doubts as to whether any civil service employee will even see an FY09 pay raise! Putting that pay raise money in a pool and expecting it to be fairly distributed is as an understatement nieve. To call it what I think it really is is unprintable.

  Perry Posted November 14, 2007 12:27 PM
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  I appreciate the raises I've had over the years. I never complain as I am proud of what I do and how I serve the federal government and its customers. I have a college level education and I am working in a position that I seeked out for a career. I also felt in past years, I was making a decent living for my family. My wife also is employed, but I must admit that it is getting tough to make ends meet as fuel prices continue to climb. I live in rural america and it isn't cheap to drive to work anymore. We do not have public transit and when you commute many miles each way to work it gets expensive. I sure would like to see a larger increase in our wages to help keep up with the high price of fuel, electricity and gas(for heating). It seems as everything is rising in cost and I'm sure trucking costs more. Utlimately goods and services go up. Therefore, I recommend that our wages adjust accordingly, so that I don't have to seek additional employment to keep my head above water. Low end gasoline here in Wyoming is $3.19/gallon and diesel is $3.80/gallon.

  Louis Posted November 12, 2007 7:36 PM
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  Hmm, "poll driven", is that good or bad? Do we want someone who listens to the "will" of the people and responds to our concerns? Or do we want someone who takes a stand regardless of right, wrong, or what others, like the voters, think? Words can change the meaning of anything from bad to good and back; and I am not convinced that "poll driven" is TOTALLY bad. Most of my problems are with the speed and height of the pendulum swing we seem to be riding politically; and any politician who either doesn't hear me at all or changes positions faster than Speedy Gonzales. Other than these extremes, just about everything, as in politics, is negotiable.

  Mixed bag here next: Ref: "raises will get bigger once Hillary takes over" I must agree with Valek, and think otherwise albeit for a different reason. Remember also that Bill shrank the government also. For references, please read "Why I Miss Bill Clinton" by Thomas R. Eddlem, on the Lew Rockwell site. He starts off asking forgiveness for he identifies with conservatives, but goes on to make a case that Bill Clinton, under the Republican Congress, was more conservative than Bush 43. The "Government Size and Economic Growth" available at the House government site also lays out the Clinton reductions in government size and its economic impact. Bottom line? They really aren't fans of big government. As for the taxes going up to pay for entitlements... Come on, give me a break. The taxes will go for everything the Government spends and owes, granted. But of immediacy, the majority of that increase would be for the debt due to this so called "war". Once more, we should our Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines suffer alone? If this "war" is so necessary, should we not also contribute (if only in paying for it) to its speedy completion? As for Buffet, he knows better than our government than to bail out someone who can't balance their budget. The government bailed out a number of industries and they set the precedent for Big Business to think they'll do it again. And if Warren gave his money to Uncle Sam, they'd count on him next time too.

  Tip off Posted November 6, 2007 12:32 PM
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  @ "raises will get bigger once Hillary takes over "

  I don't know how true that really is. Remember that Clinton is VERY poll driven, and the common American believes that we don't do any work, we are all lazy, and we still get paid. Also that we are responcible for incompetently spending their money. But what i do know is that our taxes (not just income tax) will go up to pay for unconstitutional entiltment programs. Our economy will suffer because of the silver spoon she is proposing to feed our country with. You know if Warren Buffet cared so much maybe he should have paid off parts of the Gov Debt, instead of giving his money to the wealthest person on the face of this planet. Oh, and maybe she should stop primarily investing in companies that earn their revenue in foreign currency. The government giveth, and the government taketh away.

  Valek Posted November 6, 2007 9:31 AM
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  Reality check. Some of you must not be under the same NSPS I am under. I work for the military here in Europe at a high ops tempo mostly 10+ hour days and I am getting a whopping 5% of my shares as a salary increase which amounts to $262 a year then after taxes divided by 26 amounts to about $6 a paycheck. I am a dedicated employee so I will continue to work hard but I may opt to retire instead and get another job somewhere else. I for one deserved the pay increases and bonuses I got. Management was to blame in the old system if they continued to give undeserving employees raises not the hard workers. MHO someone above us needed a pay raise and we are paying for it.

  NSPS Convert and Hating it Posted November 4, 2007 8:10 AM
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  I work as a young fed. All I know is that my friends in the private sector are not guaranteed ANY raise. Some haven't gotten one for years. And their health insurance stinks. I'm really not sure what people are complaining about. My BCBS premium didn't increase at all last year and went up about $2.50 a pay period this year.

  And a comment about property taxes - The City of Alexandria did lower my property taxes - fairly significantly. And my property taxes never did reflect the actual selling prices of the homes in my area, so now they are just lower.

  me Posted November 2, 2007 3:59 PM
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  First time I've ever seen the word "sophisticated and the acronym "nsps" used in the same paragraph much less same sentence. There is nothing sophisticated about NSPS. The screw job England and Chu have done on the DOD civilian workforce by denying the full pay raise and instead placing it in pools where it can be paid in the form of BONUSES--which aren't matched by TSP, don' count towardsretirement, and don't form a basis fo future raises--has already demoralized folks and we're not even in CY 08 yet.

  Clarence J. Posted November 2, 2007 8:19 AM
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  3.4% is fine...we'll probably get the 0.5% added on through 2012...so really the raise will be 3.9% across the board...or close to 3.4% for the "rest of us". These raises will get bigger once Hillary takes over. I still think it is crazy that everyone gets a raise regardless of their performance. Imagine this..."last year your peformance was even worse than the previous five years you were here...so...we're giving you a raise!" Good enough for Goverment work...I guess...

  DOC Scientist Posted November 2, 2007 1:25 AM
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  DoD Grunt Worker, Falling housing market causes property taxes to go down? Now that is laughable and I am almost certain a small percentage of people that are so lucky to pay less in taxes. Most cities will not change property tax rates due to houses not selling. Just as they are slow to rise when house costs go crazy.

  I don't suppose you have kids in or going to college. Check those costs out, I assure you they are more than a few pennies a year increase. Energy costs are only a few percent of your income?? Well unless you are lucky enough to be in the upper part of the GS scale, the average government worker is paying significantly more for utilities, food (Due to higher fuel costs) and just about anything else that has to be delivered ie clothing, furniture, stuff bought on the internet, the list goes on. The social security cap goes up every year so that eats up more of my money. GEHA works for you but not for my situation. Health care no matter what I do is going up for me by a large percent. That is really too personal of a choice to blab about it here, people are smart enough to see costs rise and figure out what is best for their situation.

  I am one of the lucky ones that most of these things don't kill me but the 3.5% or so we get as a raise does not cover these costs lately. I can't imagine how it would be for GS-5 employees where the spike in fuel is a much larger portion of their budget.

  One thing you are sorely missing here is the fact that some people are paid much higher than the average worker. When you get 3.5% added to $60 an hour its a lot of money. Now add 3.5% to GS-3 or 5 pay and what do you get? Not enough to get ahead.

  anonymous Posted November 1, 2007 10:23 PM
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  GovExec user comments to pay articles overwhelmingly complain that raises are too low (should be 10%! Doesn't keep up with inflation! Barely covers my health premium increase!). I am sincerely interested in someone posting real numbers that show this to be true.

  My health care premiums (GEHA) haven't increased in two years (if yours went up $50 this year, maybe you should switch to another excellent but cheaper plan). My energy costs have increased significantly, but these still only represent a few percent of my income. My mortgage and car payments stay the same, and with the dropping housing market my property tax is actually going down. The CPI (measuring consumer inflation) has only increased 2.8% in the last year.

  I feel like 3.4% actually puts me ahead but maybe I'm wrong and in for a big shock or maybe my case is unique. Can someone post how and why their expenses are significantly increasing by more than this?

  DoD Grunt Worker Posted November 1, 2007 12:00 PM
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  Sandi - We retirees did earn what we receive in retirement and remember that we no longer have jobs so that we can make choices that might result in an even higher salary. You do. And by the way, do you support your union. You are in the game, so to speak, while we have already played the game and we are not reaping the benefits. If you don't like the cards being dealt to you, and I can't say I blame you, then you need to work to change it. Don't grouse about the benefits earned by tose who came before you.

  skeptical Posted November 1, 2007 11:56 AM
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  Hummm! Now that there are at least two different pay structures covering government employee, how does this work?

  Congress mandates a COLA for government employees. GS/WG and others employees get the raise. NSPS employees get half of it and are told that they may/may not get half of it later. Did or did not Congress mandate a 3.5 COLA?

  It now becomes the responsiblity of those reporting these developments to become more knowledgeable about the subjects they report so that details that are important are not over looked or indeed misrepresented.

  Prehaps the headline should read: GS/WG employees likely to get 3.4% COLA, NSPS employees raises to be determined later.

  Kind of becomes a truth in reporting issue.

  William Locke Posted November 1, 2007 11:03 AM
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  If the price of oil, gas and taxes goes up anymore, the COLA will have to rise at least 10% just so WG employees will have enough money to get to work. I thought at one time I made pretty good money, now I find I'm at the upper end of poverty level.

  Fedemployee Posted November 1, 2007 9:21 AM
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  I'm very frustrated that, as a NSPS employee, I can't automatically receive a simple cost of living raise like everyone else working for the federal gov't. The NSPS program office spent millions of dollars for training us which included examples on how we would receive raises and who would get the standard cost of living raises. Now, I can only receive it if someone above me (hope they like me!) determines that I have "earned" it. If the Defense Dept is so bent on making people earn every cost of living raise, then why is it that retired people can get it? They certainly are not showing up every day having to prove to someone that they deserve to be paid. I'm sure they would say they earned it by working 30 years. Well sorry, that doesn't work for us NSPS employees. We have to earn it day by day. I also think it's interesting that Pentagon employees (including Bob Gates) are not on NSPS. What's up with that????

  Sandi Posted November 1, 2007 9:12 AM
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  While 3.4% is better than nothing, it does not really keep salaries in pace with inflation: i.e. Health Premiums up 8.5%, Gasoline prices, Utility prices, the falling dollar...

  Don Posted November 1, 2007 9:00 AM
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  close the loop hopes, and start paying us closer to the private sector like Employees Pay Comparability Act calls for....esspecially if you plan to implement NSPS. I'd rather dump NSPS though, it seems that P4P in other departments aren't doing too well. Either way if you want to attract college grads to the Government you need to do something, NSPS not being it, and if you want to keep your new hires, like myself, you need also need to do something, again NSPS not being it. Maybe create a retirement system, or revive one, that allows for us to not contribute to social security...the most unconstitutional abomination ever created... These "pay" raises are for the most part considered COLA's. The only time they aren't is when they are truthfull trying to bridge the gap according to EPCA, but thats being circumvented. At the very least at least leave our COLA alone.

  valek Posted October 31, 2007 2:21 PM