Federal Employees:
Pay and Pension Increases Since 1969
Patrick Purcell
Specialist in Income Security
January 20, 2010
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
94-971
CRS Report for Congress
P
repared for Members and Committees of Congress
Federal Employees: Pay and Pension Increases Since 1969
Summary
Pay increases for current federal employees and cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for retired
federal employees often differ because they are based on changes in different economic variables.
Increases in pay for civilian federal workers are indexed to wage and salary increases in the
private sector, as measured by the Employment Cost Index (ECI), whereas federal retirement and
disability benefits are indexed to price increases as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
Both the ECI and the CPI are calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department
of Labor.
Under the terms of the Federal Employees’ Pay Comparability Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-509), pay
for civilian federal employees is adjusted each year to keep the salaries of federal workers
competitive with comparable occupations in the private sector. The annual increases in federal
employee pay are based on changes in the cash compensation paid to workers in the private
sector, as measured by the ECI. Under certain circumstances, the President may limit the annual
increase in federal pay by executive order. Federal law also requires Social Security benefits and
the pensions paid to retired federal employees to be adjusted for inflation each year. The COLAs
for both Social Security and civil service pensions are based on the rate of inflation as measured
by the CPI.
Congress has linked increases in federal pay to the ECI so that wages for federal employees will
remain competitive with wages paid by firms in the private sector. Congress has linked COLAs
for Social Security and federal retirement benefits to the rate of increase in the prices of goods
and services to protect retirement income from losing purchasing power through the effects of
inflation. In general, wage increases reflect both improvements in the productivity of labor and
increases in the general level of prices in the economy. Consequently, when measured over long
periods of time, wages tend to rise faster than prices. Because COLAs for retirees do not reflect
increases in the productivity of people who are still in the work force, COLAs do not make
retirees financially better off. COLAs merely protect retirees from becoming financially worse-
off as prices rise over time. In 2010, there was no COLA for recipients of Social Security benefits
or federal civil service pensions because the price level as measured by the CPI fell between 2008
and 2009.
Increases in retirement benefits for retired federal employees were first linked to the CPI by law
in 1962. Increases in Social Security benefits have been linked by law to changes in the CPI since
1973. Before then, Congress periodically adjusted Social Security benefits through legislation.
Congress chose to tie increases in these benefits to the CPI to make the process less subject to
political influences. At year-end 2009, the overall price level as measured by the CPI was 477%
higher than it was in 1969. As of January 2010, Social Security benefits have risen by 626% since
1969, and federal civil service retirement benefits have risen by 496%. Average wages among all
workers in the economy have risen by 632% since 1969. Salaries for civilian federal employees
have increased by 428% since 1969, and the salaries of Members of Congress have increased by
309%.
This report is updated annually.
Congressional Research Service
Federal Employees: Pay and Pension Increases Since 1969
Contents
COLAs Versus Pay Increases ...................................................................................................... 1
How to Use the Benefit and Pay Increase Table ........................................................................... 2
Procedures for Determining Increases ......................................................................................... 2
Social Security and Civil Service Retirement......................................................................... 2
Federal Civil Service Pay ...................................................................................................... 3
Uniform Nationwide Pay Raises...................................................................................... 4
Locality Pay.................................................................................................................... 4
Federal Pay Raises for Within-Grade Step Increases and Promotions .................................... 4
Pay for Members of Congress ............................................................................................... 5
Average Annual Wages and Salaries ...................................................................................... 5
Price Increases ...................................................................................................................... 6
Tables
Table 1. Increases in Social Security Benefits, Federal Civilian Pensions, Federal Pay,
Congressional Pay, National Average Wages, and Consumer Prices, 1969 to 2010 .................... 7
Contacts
Author Contact Information ...................................................................................................... 10
Congressional Research Service
Federal Employees: Pay and Pension Increases Since 1969
nder the terms of the Federal Employees’ Pay Comparability Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-509),
pay for civilian federal employees is adjusted each year to keep the salaries of federal
U workers competitive with comparable occupations in the private sector. The annual
increases in federal employee pay are based on changes in the cash compensation paid to workers
in the private sector, as measured by the Employment Cost Index (ECI). Under certain
circumstances, the President may limit the annual increase in federal pay by executive order.
Federal law also requires Social Security benefits and the pensions paid to retired federal
employees to be adjusted annually for inflation. The cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) both for
Social Security and civil service pensions are based on the rate of inflation as measured by the
Consumer Price Index (CPI). Table 1 shows the pay increases since 1969 for federal employees
and Members of Congress and COLAs applied to Social Security benefits and federal civil
service pensions.1
Two national economic indexes also are displayed in Table 1 to provide a basis for comparison
with the benefit and pay increases. These indexes show the average annual change in the wages of
all workers in the United States, as computed by the Social Security Administration and the
Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners (CPI-W), a price index computed by the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics.
COLAs Versus Pay Increases
Pay increases for current federal workers and COLAs for retired federal workers often differ
because they are based on changes in different economic variables. Pay increases for federal
workers are based on changes in private-sector wages and salaries, whereas COLAs for retirees
are based on increases the general level of prices in the national economy. The objective of
federal pay policy is to keep pay in the federal government competitive with pay in the private
sector. Increases in pay for federal civil service workers therefore are indexed to increases in the
wages and salaries of private-sector employees. Over time, wage increases reflect increases in the
nation’s output of goods and services as well as price increases. Because wage increases in the
private sector reflect growth in the productivity of labor, wages tend to increase faster than prices
when measured over long periods of time.
Social Security benefits and federal retirement annuities are indexed to increases in the CPI,
which measures changes in the price of a market basket of consumer goods and services.
Congress has linked COLAs for Social Security and federal employee pensions to the rate of
increase in the general level of prices to protect retirement income from losing purchasing power
through the effects of price inflation. COLAs ensure that a retiree’s income will purchase the
same amount of goods and services after years of retirement that it purchased at the start of
retirement. COLAs do not reflect increases in the productivity of people who are still in the work
force, and thus they do not increase the real purchasing power of retirement income. COLAs do
not make retirees better off financially; they merely protect them from becoming financially
worse-off over time as prices rise.
1 The income-tested programs of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and veterans’ pensions use the cost-of-living
adjustment (COLA) formula of Social Security. Each year since 1983 these benefits have been increased at the same
time and by the same percentage as Social Security benefits.
Congressional Research Service
1
Federal Employees: Pay and Pension Increases Since 1969
How to Use the Benefit and Pay Increase Table
Table 1 shows the percentage increase in federal pay and retirement benefits for each year since
1969, and an index relative to the base year. The index shows the cumulative increase in pay or
benefits, compounded annually, with a base of 100.0 in 1969. For example, Congress increased
Social Security benefits by 15.0% in 1970, making benefits 115.0% of what they were in 1969.
Another Social Security benefit increase of 10.0% was granted in 1971, making benefits 126.5%
of what they had been in 1969. (1.15 X 1.10 = 1.265) Federal civilian retirees received a 5.6%
increase in their annuities in 1970, raising those benefits to 105.6% of the 1969 level. The next
increase in federal civilian retirement benefits was a 4.5% adjustment in 1971, bringing the
average federal pension to 110.4% of its 1969 amount. (1.056 X 1.045 = 1.104)
The bottom row of the index column shows how much federal pay and retirement benefits have
grown since 1969. For example, with the COLA that was paid in Social Security checks issued in
January 2009, these benefits had increased to 726% of their 1969 level, an increase of 626%.2
This means that a benefit initially paid in 1969 would be 7.26 times as large in 2009 if it were still
being paid in that year. Benefit increases can be compared across programs by looking at the
index column for any given year. For example, as of 1985, federal civilian pay had increased by
134% over what it had been in 1969, and congressional pay had increased by 77%. In
comparison, average wages and salaries for all workers in the U.S. economy in 1985 were 185%
greater than they had been in 1969. The column displaying the CPI shows that by 1985 the price
level had increased by 190% since 1969.
Procedures for Determining Increases
Social Security and Civil Service Retirement
Social Security and civil service retirement benefits are adjusted to offset the effect of inflation in
the cost of living as measured by a price index.3 Cost-of-living adjustments enable retirees to
maintain the purchasing power of their retirement income. Automatic adjustments to offset
erosion in the value of retirement benefits caused by inflation were first applied to civil service
retirement benefits by P.L. 87-783, enacted in 1962. In 1972, P.L. 92-336, provided for automatic
inflation-related increases in Social Security benefits.4 Benefit increases in Social Security
preceding 1975 were not automatic COLAs linked to inflation, but were special adjustments
legislated by Congress. For example, Congress granted the 1970, 1971, and 1972 Social Security
2 An index of 726 means that the number is 726% of the base, which is an increase of 626%, just as 200 is 200% of 100
and represents an increase of 100% from a base of 100.
3 The two retirement systems for federal civil service workers use different adjustment systems. The Civil Service
Retirement System (CSRS), which applies to workers first hired into federal service before 1984, provides a full COLA
for all retirees and survivors. The Federal Employees’ Retirement System (FERS) covers workers hired on or after
January 1, 1984, and others who voluntarily switched from CSRS to FERS. To constrain retirement costs, Congress
placed restrictions on COLAs to FERS retirees. FERS provides COLAs to retirees under the age of 62 only if they are
disabled or are survivor annuitants. FERS retirees aged 62 or older receive a full COLA only if the CPI increases by
2.0% or less. FERS retirees receive a 2.0% COLA if the CPI increase is between 2.0% and 3.0%. If the CPI increases
by 3.0% or more, the FERS COLA is 1 percentage point less than the CPI.
4 This law was amended in 1973 by P.L. 93-66 and P.L. 93-233 before the 1972 law went into effect.
Congressional Research Service
2
Federal Employees: Pay and Pension Increases Since 1969
increases of 15%, 10%, and 20%, respectively, in part because of concern about the number of
elderly Americans living in poverty. These increases were intended not just to offset inflation in
those years, but to raise the real level of benefits. The 8.0% Social Security increase effective in
June 1975 was the first automatic inflation-related COLA.
The large increases in Social Security benefits that Congress provided periodically before the
program was indexed to inflation have had a substantial effect on the cumulative index for Social
Security shown in Table 1 because the table uses 1969 as the base year for the index. This may
create a somewhat misleading impression if Social Security benefit increases are compared with
the civil service retirement program, which was indexed to inflation in the early 1960s. For
example, if 1975 were used as the base year for the index instead of 1969, the cumulative Social
Security increase through January 2009 would be 299%. This is almost the same as the 284%
cumulative increase in civil service retirement benefits during that period.5
The benefit adjustments in these programs are made by computing the average monthly CPI for
the third quarter of the current calendar year (July, August, and September) and comparing it with
the CPI for the third quarter of the previous year. For example, the 5.8% Social Security COLA
paid in January 2009 represents the increase in the average monthly CPI for July, August, and
September of 2008 over the average monthly CPI for July, August, and September of 2007. The
benefit increases are first included in checks issued in the month of January and take place
automatically unless legislation is enacted to change them. In FY1986, the Gramm-Rudman-
Hollings Act canceled civil service retiree COLAs. In 1994, 1995, and 1996, P.L. 103-66 (the
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993) delayed civil service nondisability retiree COLAs
until April in order to achieve budget savings.
If consumer prices as measured by the CPI-W do not increase from the third quarter of one year
to the third quarter of the next year, there is no COLA for annuities paid under CSRS or FERS.
From the third quarter of 2008 to the third quarter of 2009, the CPI-W fell by 2.1%. Therefore,
there was no COLA under either CSRS or FERS in January 2010. Because the price level fell
between the third quarter of 2008 and the third quarter of 2009, the average monthly CPI for the
third quarter of 2008 will remain the basis on which the COLA is determined for 2011.6 The
average monthly CPI for the third calendar quarter of 2010 will be compared with the average
monthly CPI for the third calendar quarter of 2008 to determine whether there will be a COLA
applied to Social Security and civil service pensions in January 2011.
Federal Civil Service Pay
The Federal Employees’ Pay Comparability Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-509) established a two-step
system for setting and adjusting federal pay. Step one is an annual increase that applies uniformly
to all “white collar” federal civil service employees covered by the general schedule (GS) pay
system, the foreign service pay system, and certain pay systems for employees of the Department
of Veterans Affairs. The second step comprises locality-based salary adjustments that vary by
geographic area.
5 From 1969 through 1976, the adjustment for civil service retirement was 1 percentage point more than the rate of
inflation.
6 See 5 U.S.C. § 8340 and 5 U.S.C. § 8462.
Congressional Research Service
3
Federal Employees: Pay and Pension Increases Since 1969
Uniform Nationwide Pay Raises
The uniform nationwide annual adjustment to the general schedule pay scale is based on the
average pay raise received by workers in the private sector from year to year. The Pay
Comparability Act specifies that the nationwide pay raises for federal white-collar GS workers
are to be one-half percentage point less than private sector wage increases, as measured by the
ECI.7 The increase is computed by comparing the ECI for the third quarter of the previous
calendar year to the ECI in the third quarter of the calendar year before that. Thus, there is a 15-
month lag between the measurement period and the effective date of the pay raise. On the basis of
the 2.9% increase in the ECI from the third quarter of 2007 to the third quarter of 2008, the base
pay increase for federal employees in January 2010 as determined under the Pay Comparability
Act would have been 2.4%. Although P.L. 101-509 specifies that the annual national increase in
basic GS pay rates will be equal to the percentage change in the ECI minus 0.5 percentage point,
the law gives the President authority to limit pay raises through executive order in the event of
serious economic conditions or a national emergency affecting the general welfare.8
Locality Pay
P.L. 101-509 authorized locality-based pay adjustments for civilian federal employees in
specified occupations and geographic locations to reflect the salary levels of private-sector
workers in similar occupations in those areas. The original objective of the civil service locality
pay program was to bring federal salaries to within 5% of private sector salaries over a nine-year
period (1994 through 2002). Once pay parity is achieved, locality pay adjustments are no longer
to be made unless the gap subsequently widens to more than 5%. Although Congress suspended
the uniform nationwide civil service pay raise for 1994, it agreed to pay locality raises to civil
service workers. Since 1994, Congress has set aside P.L. 101-509 and specified in appropriations
bills the amounts available for distribution each year as locality pay increases.
On November 30, 2009, President Obama sent to Congress a legislative proposal for a 2.0%
pay increase in 2010 for federal employees, but with no locality adjustments. On December 16,
the President signed the FY2010 omnibus appropriations bill (P.L. 111-17), which included a
1.5% across-the-board pay increase along with locality pay increases averaging 0.5%. On
December 23, the President issued an executive order that set the locality increases.9
Federal Pay Raises for Within-Grade Step Increases
and Promotions
The data in the column labeled “federal civil service pay” in Table 1 reflect post-1969 uniform
nationwide pay raises and locality pay increases applicable to the government’s overall pay scales
for workers in GS positions, from GS-1, step 1, through the highest grade of GS-15, step 10. As
noted above, the government increases the federal GS pay scale periodically (usually once a year)
to be competitive with wages and salaries paid by other employers. The pay increases in Table 1
do not portray the total pay increases that any individual or group of individuals might have
7 The Bureau of Labor Statistics updates the ECI quarterly to measure changes in wages and salaries in private-sector,
non-farm employment.
8 Pay raises for members of the Senior Executive Service are not prescribed by law. They are established by the
President through an executive order. Thus, they may be the same as or different from other civil service pay raises.
9 The complete 2010 general schedule salary tables are online at http://www.opm.gov/oca/10tables/index.asp.
Congressional Research Service
4
Federal Employees: Pay and Pension Increases Since 1969
received. As federal employees move through their careers, they receive pay raises when they are
granted a within-grade step increase or when they receive a promotion to a higher pay grade.
Both step increases and promotions to higher grades are merit increases that are based on an
individual’s performance in his or her job. If a worker were to receive all within-grade step
increases at the first point of eligibility without being promoted to a higher pay grade, it would
take 18 years to move from step 1 of a pay grade to step 10. The pay increases between steps
range from 2.5% to 3.3%. Thus, although Table 1 indicates that GS pay scales increased by 265%
between 1975 and 2010, the pay in 2010 of an individual who had been continuously employed in
a federal GS job between 1975 and 2010 would have risen by more than 265% due to the
combined effects of increases in the overall pay scales, within-grade step increases, and
promotions to higher grades. Some workers receive step increases but few promotions; others
receive steady, periodic promotions; and still others receive rapid promotions and spend many
years at high pay grades. Thus, it is not possible to characterize in general terms how the actual
pay of long-term federal workers increases over time. Consequently, Table 1 should not be
construed as characterizing the salary history of a typical federal employee.
Pay for Members of Congress
The procedures for raising the pay of civilian federal employees were applied to Members of
Congress and other high-level federal officials by P.L. 94-82, enacted on August 9, 1975. In the
Government Ethics Reform Act of 1989 (P.L. 101-194), Congress approved different pay
increases for the House and the Senate for 1990 and 1991. Subsequent legislation passed by
Congress once again made Senators’ pay equal to that of Representatives, effective in August
1991. P.L. 101-194 also established a new procedure for setting Members’ pay. Beginning in
1991, Members’ annual pay raises were based on changes in the ECI reduced by 0.5 percentage
point and capped at 5.0%. On several occasions, Congress has voted to cancel the pay raises it
was authorized to receive under P.L. 101-194. Congress declined the pay raises that it otherwise
would have received in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2007, and 2010.10
The annual pay increase for Members of Congress is computed by comparing the ECI for the
fourth quarter of the previous calendar year with the ECI in the fourth quarter of the preceding
year. Thus, there is a 12-month lag between the measuring period and implementation of the pay
raise. Based on the increase in the ECI from December 2007 to December 2008, Members were
scheduled to receive a pay adjustment in January 2010 of 2.1%. A provision in the FY2009
Omnibus Appropriations Act (P.L. 111-8, March 11, 2009), however, prevented the pay
adjustment for 2010. Representatives and Senators received no pay increase in 2010.
Average Annual Wages and Salaries
The column labeled “average annual wages/salaries” displays the average annual increases in
wages and salaries earned by all workers in the United States as reported by the Social Security
Administration Board of Trustees. Like the data on civil service pay, this column does not reflect
the pay raises an individual worker might receive from year to year, because as workers gain
skills and experience they usually receive both pay raises and promotions. The data in Table 1
reflect average wage growth for the entire workforce, which is influenced by the retirement of
10 For more information, see CRS Report 97-1011, Salaries of Members of Congress: Recent Actions and Historical
Tables, by Ida A. Brudnick.
Congressional Research Service
5
Federal Employees: Pay and Pension Increases Since 1969
older, higher-paid workers and the entrance of younger, lower-paid workers. It also reflects shifts
in the structure of wages caused by declining employment in certain sectors of the economy and
increasing employment in other sectors. Because of the combined effects of pay raises and
promotions, a typical worker with a permanent attachment to the labor force would have
experienced wage growth greater than that shown in Table 1.
Price Increases
The final column of Table 1 shows the annual percentage change in consumer prices as measured
by the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners (CPI-W). The CPI represents the average
change nationwide in a typical “market basket” of goods and services purchased by consumers.
The items included in the index change as new products or brands are introduced, and old
products are modified, improved, or dropped.
Using the price level of 1969 as the base for the index, the CPI had risen to 569 by 2009, meaning
that consumer prices had risen by 469% over a 40-year period. This represents an average annual
increase in consumer prices of 4.4% over the period from 1969 to 2009. Over the same period,
wages and salaries rose at an average annual rate of 5.1%, or 0.7% faster than prices. The 2009
index for Social Security benefits was higher than the price index (726 compared to 569), but this
largely reflects the ad hoc increases granted by Congress in the early 1970s. Between 1975 and
2009, the Social Security index rose by 299% and the CPI-W rose by 288%.11 Federal civilian
retirement benefits grew at nearly the same rate as consumer prices from 1969 to 2009, with the
differences accounted for mainly by the lag-time between price measurement and the
implementation date of the COLAs for these benefits. Increases in pay for civilian federal
employees grew more slowly than consumer prices over the period shown in Table 1, standing at
an index value of 518 in 2009, compared to a CPI of 569.
11 Social Security and civil service retirement are indexed to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners (CPI-
W).
Congressional Research Service
6
Federal Employees: Pay and Pension Increases Since 1969
Table 1. Increases in Social Security Benefits, Federal Civilian Pensions, Federal Pay, Congressional Pay, National Average
Wages, and Consumer Prices, 1969 to 2010
Civilian (CSRS)
Federal Civil
Congressional
Average Annual
Consumer
Social Security
Retirementa
Service Pay
Payb
Wages/Salariesc
Prices (CPI-W)
Year
Percentage
Percentage
Percentage
Percentage
Percentage
Percentage
Change
Index
Change
Index
Change
Index
Change
Index
Change
Index
Change
Index
1969 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
1970 15.0 115.0 5.6 105.6 6.0 106.0
5.0 105.0 5.7 105.7
1971 10.0 126.5 4.5 110.4 6.0 112.4
5.0 110.3 4.4 110.4
1972 20.0 151.8 4.8 115.6 10.9 124.6
9.8 121.1 3.4 114.1
1973
6.1 122.7 4.8 130.6
6.3 128.7 6.2 121.2
1974 11.0 168.5 12.2 137.6 5.5 137.7
5.9 136.3 11.0 134.5
1975 8.0 182.0 12.8 155.2 5.0 144.6 4.9 104.9 7.5 146.5 9.1 146.7
1976 6.4 193.6 5.4 163.6 4.8 151.6
6.9 156.6 5.7 155.1
1977 5.9 205.0 9.3 178.8 7.0 162.2 28.9 135.2 6.0 166.0 6.5 165.2
1978 6.5 218.4 7.4 192.0 5.5 171.1
7.9 179.1 7.7 177.9
1979 9.9 240.0 11.1 213.3 7.0 183.1 5.5 142.7 8.7 194.7 11.4 198.2
1980 14.3 274.3 14.2 243.5 9.1 199.7
9.0 212.2 13.4 224.8
1981 11.2 305.0 4.4 254.2 4.8 209.3
10.1 233.7 10.3 247.9
1982 7.4 327.6 8.7 276.3 4.0 217.7 15.1 164.2 5.5 246.5 6.0 262.2
1983
3.9
287.1
4.9
258.6
3.0
270.7
1984 3.5 339.1
4.0 226.4 4.0 170.8 5.9 273.8 3.5 280.1
1985 3.5 350.9 3.5 297.2 3.5 234.3 3.4 176.6 4.3 285.6 3.5 289.9
1986
3.1
361.8
3.0
294.2
1.6
294.6
1987 1.3 366.5 1.3 301.0 3.0 241.4 19.2 210.5 6.4 313.0 3.6 305.2
1988 4.2 381.9 4.2 313.7 2.0 246.2
4.9 328.3 4.0 317.4
1989 4.0 397.2 4.0 326.2 4.1 256.3
4.0 341.5 4.8 332.6
1990 4.7 415.9 4.7 341.6 3.6 265.5 7.9 227.1 4.6 357.2 5.2 349.9
CRS-7
Federal Employees: Pay and Pension Increases Since 1969
Civilian (CSRS)
Federal Civil
Congressional
Average Annual
Consumer
Social Security
Retirementa
Service Pay
Payb
Wages/Salariesc
Prices (CPI-W)
Year
Percentage
Percentage
Percentage
Percentage
Percentage
Percentage
Change
Index
Change
Index
Change
Index
Change
Index
Change
Index
Change
Index
1991 5.4 438.3 5.4 360.0 4.1 276.4 29.5 294.1 3.7 370.4 4.0 364.0
1992 3.7 454.5 3.7 373.3 4.2 288.0 3.5 304.4 5.2 389.7 2.9 374.6
1993 3.0 468.2 3.0 384.5 3.7 298.7 3.2 314.1 0.9 393.2 2.8 385.2
1994 2.6 480.3 2.6 394.5 4.0 310.6
2.7 403.8 2.5 394.9
1995 2.8 493.8 2.8 405.6 2.6 318.7
4.0 419.9 2.8 406.1
1996 2.6 506.6 2.6 416.1 2.4 326.3
4.9 440.5 2.9 418.0
1997 2.9 521.3 2.9 428.2 3.0 336.1
5.8 466.1 2.2 427.2
1998 2.1 532.2 2.1 437.2 2.9 345.9 2.3 321.4 5.2 490.3 1.3 432.9
1999 1.3 539.2 1.3 442.9 3.6 358.3
5.6 517.8 2.2 442.6
2000 2.4 552.1 2.4 453.5 4.8 375.5 3.4 332.3 5.5 546.2 3.5 458.0
2001 3.5 571.5 3.5 469.4 3.7 389.4 2.7 341.3 2.4 559.3 2.7 470.5
2002 2.6 586.3 2.6 481.6 4.6 407.3 3.4 352.9 1.0 564.9 1.4 476.9
2003 1.4 594.5 1.4 488.3 4.1 424.0 3.1 363.8 2.4 578.5 2.2 487.6
2004 2.1 607.0 2.1 498.6 4.1 441.4 2.2 371.8 4.6 605.1 2.6 500.3
2005 2.7 623.4 2.7 512.0 3.5 456.9 2.5 381.2 3.7 627.5 3.5 517.9
2006 4.1 649.0 4.1 533.0 3.1 471.0 1.9 388.4 4.6 656.4 3.2 534.6
2007 3.3 670.4 3.3 550.6 2.2 481.4
4.5 686.1 2.9 549.8
2008 2.3 685.8 2.3 563.3 3.5 498.2 2.5 398.0 2.3 701.9 4.1 572.3
2009 5.8 725.6 5.8 595.9 3.9 517.7 2.8 409.2 0.9 708.2 -0.7 568.5
2010 0.0 725.6 0.0 595.9 2.0 528.0 0.0 409.2 3.4 732.3 1.5 577.0
Source: Congressional Research Service.
Notes: Changes are shown for the calendar year in which the increase appeared in the checks issued. For years in which payments were increased more than once, the
compounded effects are shown.
a. The COLAs in this column are those paid to CSRS annuitants. The COLAs paid under FERS (which are lower than CSRS COLAs in any year that inflation exceeds
2.0%), are not shown. See CRS Report 94-834, Cost-of-Living Adjustments for Federal Civil Service Annuities for FERS COLAs each year since 1988.
CRS-8
Federal Employees: Pay and Pension Increases Since 1969
b. The changes in each year are those for members of the House of Representatives. In 1969, Representatives and Senators were each paid $42,500. In 2009,
Representatives and Senators were each paid $174,000 per year. There was no pay raise for Senators in Representatives in calendar year 2010.
c. Computed by the Social Security Administration, based on wage data reported by employers to the Internal Revenue Service. Average wages for 2009 and 2010 are
estimates of the Office of the Actuary of the Social Security Administration. The CPI for 2010 is the August 2009 estimate of the Congressional Budget Office.
CRS-9
Federal Employees: Pay and Pension Increases Since 1969
Author Contact Information
Patrick Purcell
Specialist in Income Security
ppurcell@crs.loc.gov, 7-7571
Congressional Research Service
10