Federal Pay: General Schedule (GS) Pay Adjustment Process, Amounts Provided Since 2010, and Issues for Congress

February 17, 2022 R47033

Federal Pay: General Schedule (GS) Pay
February 17, 2022
Adjustment Process, Amounts Provided Since
Barbara L. Schwemle
2010, and Issues for Congress
Analyst in American
National Government
The General Schedule (GS) is the basic pay schedule for federal civilian white-collar employees.

The GS governs the establishment and adjustment of salaries for a workforce representing
professional, administrative, technical, and clerical occupations. It is a schedule of annual rates of

basic pay consisting of 15 grades, designated “GS-1” through “GS-15,” consecutively, with 10
rates of pay—or “steps”—for each such grade.
Federal employees paid under the GS are intended by law to receive base pay and locality pay adjustments, effective in
January of each year, under Section 529 of P.L. 101-509, the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act (FEPCA) of 1990,
enacted on November 5, 1990. The adjustments are not based on economic indicators of the cost of living. FEPCA requires
the base pay adjustment for GS employees to be based on the Employment Cost Index (ECI), which measures changes in
private sector wages and salaries. The locality payments procedures established by FEPCA provide that payments are to be
made within each locality determined to have a pay disparity greater than 5%. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) surveys
compare the rates of GS pay with the rates of pay generally paid to nonfederal workers for the same levels of work within
each pay locality.
The Secretary of Labor, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, and the director of the Office of Personnel
Management serve jointly as the President’s Pay Agent. The Federal Salary Council (FSC), established by the President,
advises the President’s Pay Agent on locality pay adjustments and related matters in an annual memorandum. The most
recent memorandum, published on January 6, 2021, included recommendations for the establishment or modification of pay
localities, the coverage of salary surveys conducted by the BLS for use in the locality pay program, the process of comparing
GS pay to nonfederal pay, and the level of comparability payments for January 2022. After considering the views and
recommendations of the FSC, the Pay Agent prepares and submits an annual report to the President. The Pay Agent
submitted its annual report on the January 2022 locality pay adjustments to the President on December 15, 2021.
Limitations on GS pay that correspond to Executive Schedule (EX) pay rates prevent some employees from receiving pay
adjustments they would otherwise be entitled to. By law, base pay and locality pay combined cannot exceed the pay rate for
Level IV of the Executive Schedule, which is $176,300 as of January 2022. As annual adjustments to base and locality pay
are provided and this limitation prevents raises from taking effect at the top of the scale—referred to as “pay compression”—
employees paid at an increasing number of GS step levels have reached this cap. As a result of the January 2022 pay
adjustments, employees in the middle to upper steps of the GS-15 pay grade are affected by the EX Level IV cap in 30
locality pay areas. The most severe compression is occurring in the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland locality pay area, where
employees at GS-15 steps 4 through 10 (and GS-14 step 10) all receive the same rate of pay.
President Joe Biden authorized the GS pay adjustment for 2022 in Executive Order (E.O.) 14061, issued on December 22,
2021. The E.O. provides a 2.7% federal civilian pay adjustment allocated as a 2.2% base pay increase and an average 0.5%
(of basic payroll) locality pay increase. The adjustment became effective on the first day of the first applicable pay period
beginning on or after January 1, 2022.
Congress may conduct oversight on several issues related to GS pay setting and adjustment, including reviewing the FEPCA
statutory provisions, the ongoing pay compression, and the continuing freeze on pay for certain senior political officials.

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Federal Civilian White-Collar Pay Adjustments: Process, Proposed for 2022, and Amounts

Background
The General Schedule (GS) is the basic pay schedule for federal civilian white-collar employees.1
The GS governs the establishment and adjustment of salaries for a workforce that, as of
September 2021 (most current data available), numbered 1,547,641 employees representing
professional, administrative, technical, and clerical occupations.2 It is a schedule of annual rates
of basic pay consisting of 15 grades, designated “GS-1” through “GS-15,” consecutively, with 10
rates of pay, known as “steps,” for each grade.
Within each GS grade is a range of pay comprised of a minimum, midpoint, and maximum salary.
A technique called position classification has been used to craft the structure. Federal jobs have
been arranged into classes on the basis of the kind of work involved, its level of difficulty,
responsibility, and the qualifications necessary to perform it. Rates of pay were then attached to
each specific class. The pay structure is a job hierarchy. As one progresses through it, salaries
increase. Positions at the GS-12 level, for instance, are said to demand more in terms of
knowledge and skill, responsibility, and expected results than those at the GS-11 level and,
therefore, have both a higher classification and rate of pay related to them.
By law, the schedule is to be adjusted on an annual basis.3 As of January 2022, GS base pay
ranged from $20,172 at GS-1, step 1, to $146,757 at GS-15, step 10.4 In the Washington-
Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA, locality pay area, base pay and locality pay ranged
from $26,532 at GS-1, step 1, to $176,300 at GS-15, step 10, as of January 2022.5
The GS has been in existence since the Classification Act of 1949. P.L. 101-509, the Federal
Employees Pay Comparability Act (FEPCA) of 1990, established the current policy that “Federal
pay fixing” for GS employees is to be based on the following principles:
(1) there be equal pay for substantially equal work within each local pay area;
(2) within each local pay area, pay distinctions be maintained in keeping with work and
performance distinctions;
(3) Federal pay rates be comparable with non-Federal pay rates for the same levels of work
within the same local pay area; and
(4) any existing pay disparities between Federal and non-Federal employees should be
completely eliminated.6

1 5 U.S.C. §5332.
2 U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), FedScope, Employment, https://www.fedscope.opm.gov/
employment.asp. The total federal workforce, in all pay plans, numbers 2,191,011 as of September 2021.
3 5 U.S.C. §5303 and 5 U.S.C. §5304. The pay period for an employee covers two administrative workweeks (5 U.S.C.
§5504(a)). When payment is made on the basis of an hourly, daily, weekly, or biweekly rate, the rate is computed from
the appropriate annual rate of GS basic pay. The pay computation rules provide for converting an annual rate of basic
pay as follows: To derive an hourly rate, divide the annual rate by 2,087. To derive a daily rate, multiply the hourly rate
by the number of daily hours of service required. To derive a weekly or biweekly rate, multiply the hourly rate by 40 or
80, as the case may be. Rates are computed to the nearest cent, counting one-half and over as a whole cent (5 U.S.C.
§5504(b)).
4 OPM, Base General Schedule, January 2022, https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/
salary-tables/pdf/2022/GS.pdf.
5 OPM, Locality Pay Table, Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA pay area, January 2022,
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/salary-tables/pdf/2022/DCB.pdf.
6 5 U.S.C. §5301.
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General Schedule Pay Adjustment Process
Federal employees paid under the GS are intended by law to receive base pay and locality pay
adjustments, effective in January of each year, under Section 529 of FEPCA.7 The adjustments
are not based on economic indicators of the cost of living.
The statutory provisions on the base GS pay adjustment are codified at Title 5, Section 5303, of
the U.S. Code and have not been amended since FEPCA was enacted.8 FEPCA requires the base
pay adjustment for GS employees to be based on the Employment Cost Index (ECI), which
measures changes in private sector wages and salaries.9 Basic pay rates are to be increased by an
amount that is 0.5 percentage points less than the September indicator of the ECI. The percentage
is based on how much the ECI for the quarter ending September 30 of the year before the
preceding calendar year exceeds that for the comparable quarter of the next preceding year (if at
all).10 For example, the base pay adjustment for January 2022 was determined by comparing the
ECI for the quarter ending September 30, 2020, with the ECI for the quarter ending September
30, 2019. Thus, the data used to calculate the base pay adjustment were 15 months old at the time
of the adjustment.
The base pay adjustment is effective as of the first day of the first applicable pay period
beginning on or after January 1 of each calendar year.11 In the event of a national emergency or
serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare, FEPCA authorizes the President to
issue an alternative pay plan to Congress, before September 1 of the preceding calendar year, that
uses a different percentage increase from the one required by the ECI-based formula.12 In
evaluating an economic condition affecting the general welfare, the President is to consider
pertinent economic measures including, but not limited to, the Indexes of Leading Economic
Indicators, the gross national product, the unemployment rate, the budget deficit, the Consumer
Price Index, the Producer Price Index, the ECI, and the Implicit Price Deflator for Personal
Consumption Expenditures.13 The President is also to include in the plan his assessment of the
impact of the alternative pay adjustments on the federal government’s ability to recruit and retain
well-qualified employees.14
The statutory provisions on the locality-based comparability payments are codified at Title 5,
Sections 5304 and 5304a. The Section 5304 provisions have been amended five times since
1990.15 Table A-1 in the Appendix provides information on selected amendments to Section
5304 since 1990. The locality payment procedures established by FEPCA provide that payments

7 104 Stat. 1389, at 1427; 5 U.S.C. §5301 note.
8 The definitions codified at Title 5, Section 5302, were amended three times by P.L. 102-378 (October 2, 1992), P.L.
103-89 (September 30, 1993), and P.L. 108-411 (October 30, 2004).
9 5 U.S.C. §5302(2).
10 5 U.S.C. §5303(a).
11 5 U.S.C. §5303(a).
12 5 U.S.C. §5303(b)(1)(A). For example, for the 2021 pay adjustment, President Donald Trump issued an alternative
pay plan (U.S. Presidents (Trump), “Message to the Congress Transmitting an Alternative Plan for Pay Adjustments for
Civilian Federal Employees,” February 10, 2020, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-202000067/pdf/DCPD-
202000067.pdf).
13 5 U.S.C. §5303(b)(2).
14 5 U.S.C. §5303(b)(3).
15 The amendments were included in P.L. 102-378 (October 2, 1992), P.L. 108-136 (November 24, 2003), P.L. 108-411
(October 30, 2004), P.L. 110-372 (October 8, 2008), and P.L. 111-84 (October 28, 2009).
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are to be made within each locality determined to have a pay disparity greater than 5%.16 Bureau
of Labor Statistics (BLS) surveys compare the rates of GS pay with the rates of pay generally
paid to nonfederal workers for the same levels of work within each pay locality.17 The locality
payment is a single percentage that applies to all GS positions within a locality.18
The locality payments are effective as of the beginning of the first applicable pay period
commencing on or after January 1 of the applicable year.19 FEPCA also authorizes the President
to transmit a report to Congress if the President considers the locality payments that would
otherwise be payable to be inappropriate because of a national emergency or serious economic
conditions affecting the general welfare. The report is to be submitted at least one month before
the payments would otherwise become payable20 and is to include the alternative level of
payments the President intends to provide.
Federal Salary Council Recommendations
FEPCA directs the President to establish a Federal Salary Council (FSC) to advise the President’s
Pay Agent, discussed below, on locality pay adjustments.21 The FSC comprises nine members, of
whom three are persons generally recognized for their impartiality, knowledge, and experience in
the field of labor relations and pay policy, and six are representatives of employee organizations
that represent substantial numbers of employees holding GS positions. The representatives from
employee organizations are selected giving due consideration to such factors as the relative
numbers of employees represented by the various organizations. Not more than three members of
the FSC at any one time shall be from a single employee organization, council, federation,
alliance, association, or affiliation of employee organizations.22 The President designates one of
the three labor relations and pay policy experts on the council to serve as chairman.23 The Biden
Administration had not reconstituted the FSC and named a chair as of February 2022.24
The FSC submits an annual memorandum to the President’s Pay Agent. The memorandum
published on January 6, 2021, included “recommendations for the establishment or modification
of pay localities, the coverage of salary surveys conducted by the BLS for use in the locality pay
program, the process of comparing General Schedule (GS) pay to non-Federal pay, and the level
of comparability payments for January 2022.”25 The FSC found that

16 5 U.S.C. §5304(a)(1). See also CRS In Focus IF11998, Federal Locality-Based Comparability Payments for General
Schedule Employees, by Barbara L. Schwemle.
17 5 U.S.C. §5304(d)(1)(A).
18 5 U.S.C. §5304(c)(1).
19 5 U.S.C. §5304(d)(2).
20 5 U.S.C. §5304a(a)(1).
21 See also CRS In Focus IF11998, Federal Locality-Based Comparability Payments for General Schedule Employees,
by Barbara L. Schwemle.
22 5 U.S.C. §5304(e)(1).
23 One of the three members who are labor relations and pay policy experts may be the chairman of the Federal
Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee, and such individual may also be designated to serve as chairman of the FSC.
24 According to OPM, the chairperson seat and the seats for the other two expert members of the FSC are still vacant.
The employee organization members of the FSC are Robert Creighton, Fraternal Order of Police; Randy Erwin,
National Federation of Federal Employees; Andrew Rakowsky, Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association;
Anthony M. Reardon, National Treasury Employees Union; and Jacqueline Simon, American Federation of
Government Employees. Information provided to CRS by OPM by email on January 27, 2022.
25 FSC, Memorandum for the President’s Pay Agent, “Level of Comparability Payments for January 2022 and Other
Matters Pertaining to the Locality Pay Program,” January 6, 2021, https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-
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the estimated overall disparity between (1) base GS average salaries excluding any add-
ons such as GS special rates and existing locality payments and (2) non-Federal average
salaries surveyed by BLS in locality pay areas was 52.17 percent. Using these data, the
amount needed to reduce the pay disparity to 5 percent (the target disparity established by
FEPCA) averages 44.92 percent. Thus, when existing locality pay rates averaging 23.60
percent as of March 2020 are taken into account, the overall remaining pay disparity is
estimated at 23.11 percent.26
In addition, the FSC determined that it should
continue to analyze and discuss the issue of whether the 2,500 GS employment threshold
should change for evaluating Rest of US metropolitan areas for possible establishment as
new locality pay areas based on pay disparities calculated using data from the NCS/OES
Model.27
President’s Pay Agent Recommendations
Under FEPCA, the President is to direct an agent of his choosing to prepare and submit a report
with specified information and recommendations related to the administration of GS pay
adjustments.28 The Secretary of Labor, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, and
the director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) serve jointly in this role as the
“President’s Pay Agent.”29
The Pay Agent, after considering the views and recommendations of the FSC, is to prepare and
submit an annual report to the President not later than 13 months before the start of the calendar
year for purposes of which it is prepared. The report is to compare GS pay rates with pay rates
generally paid to nonfederal workers for the same levels of work within each pay locality, as
determined on the basis of surveys conducted by the BLS. Based on the survey data, the report is
to identify each locality in which a pay disparity exists and specify the size of each such pay
disparity (before and after taking into consideration any comparability payments payable). The
report is to make recommendations for comparability payments and include the views and
recommendations of the FSC.30
The Pay Agent is to provide for meetings with the FSC and consider the FSC’s views and
recommendations, including those of the individual members, regarding:
(i) the establishment or modification of pay localities;
(ii) the coverage of the surveys of pay localities conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics
… (including, but not limited to, the occupations, establishment sizes, and industries to be
surveyed, and how pay localities are to be surveyed);

leave/pay-systems/general-schedule/federal-salary-council/recommendation20.pdf.
26 FSC memorandum, p. 3.
27 The FSC reviewed comparisons of GS and nonfederal pay based on data from two BLS surveys, the National
Compensation Survey (NCS) and the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program. For other FSC
recommendations, see FSC memorandum, Executive Summary, pp. 1-2.
28 5 U.S.C. §5304(d)(1).
29 U.S. Presidents (George H. W. Bush), Executive Order 12748, Providing for Federal Pay Administration, §2(a), 56
Federal Register 4521, February 4, 1991, at FR-1991-02-04.pdf. For the Biden Administration, Martin J. Walsh is the
Secretary of Labor, Shalanda Young is the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Kiran A.
Ahuja is the director of OPM.
30 5 U.S.C. §5304(d)(1).
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(iii) the process of comparing the rates of pay payable under the General Schedule with
rates of pay for the same levels of work performed by non-Federal workers; and
(iv) the level of comparability payments that should be paid in order to eliminate or reduce
pay disparities in accordance with the requirements of this section.31
In addition, the Pay Agent is to consider the views and recommendations of employee
organizations not represented on the FSC and include in its report to the President the views and
recommendations submitted by the FSC, by any member of the FSC, and by employee
organizations not represented on the FSC.32
The Pay Agent submitted its annual report on the January 2022 locality pay adjustments to the
President on December 15, 2021. In its cover letter transmitting the report, the Pay Agent noted
that
the statutory formula for locality adjustments has not been followed since January 1994
because of budgetary and methodological concerns. Regarding budgetary concerns, this
report includes an estimated cost of $18.5 billion for reducing disparities as intended by
the statute, and that cost is a significant consideration. However, it is also important to
emphasize that the underlying methodology for locality pay of relying on one singular
locality rate covering a locality pay area has lacked credibility since the beginning of
locality pay in 1994 to such a degree that the statutory formula for closing pay gaps has
been overridden either by Congress or by successive Presidents each and every year since
that first year.33
The Pay Agent also recommended that the FSC further study “whether the GS employment
threshold of 2,500 or more GS employees should change for evaluating Rest of U.S. metropolitan
areas called ‘Rest of U.S. research areas’ for possible establishment as new locality pay areas
based on pay disparities calculated using the current salary survey methodology.”34
In addition, the Pay Agent recommended further deliberations by the FSC on “whether pay area
boundaries should be changed to reflect recent updates to Office of Management and Budget
delineations of metropolitan statistical areas and combined statistical areas” and “whether to
change or make exceptions to the criteria by which basic locality pay areas and areas of
application … are established.”35 With regard to the latter, the Pay Agent stated that the FSC
“should discuss and quantify the implications that such changes or exceptions could have on all
potentially impacted locations throughout the Country before the Pay Agent would consider
them.”36
Additionally, the cover letter to the report reiterated the Pay Agent’s views that “there is a need to
consider major legislative reforms of the white-collar Federal pay system, which continues to
utilize a process requiring a single percentage adjustment in the pay of all white-collar civilian

31 5 U.S.C. §5304(e)(2)(A).
32 5 U.S.C. §5304(e)(2)(B)(C).
33 U.S. President’s Pay Agent, Report on Locality-Based Comparability Payments for the General Schedule, Annual
Report of the President’s Pay Agent for Locality Pay in 2022, December 15, 2021, cover letter, https://www.opm.gov/
policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/pay-systems/general-schedule/pay-agent-reports/2020report.pdf.
34 Ibid.
35 Ibid.
36 Ibid.
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Federal employees in each locality pay area without regard to the differing labor markets for
major occupational groups.”37 According to the Pay Agent:
The current pay comparison methodology used in the locality pay program ignores the fact
that non-Federal pay in a local labor market may be very different between different
occupational groups. As currently applied, locality payments in a local labor market may
leave some mission-critical occupations significantly underpaid while overpaying others.38
Table A-2 in the Appendix shows the locality payments that would have been required in
January 2022 under FEPCA.
General Schedule Pay Limitations
Limitations on GS pay that correspond to Executive Schedule (EX) pay rates prevent some
employees from receiving the full amount of the GS pay adjustments, as shown in Table 1 below.
Table 1. Limitations on General Schedule Pay
As of January 2022
Compensation
Pay Limitation
Basic pay
$165,300 (EX Level V)
Basic pay and locality pay
$176,300 (EX Level IV)
Total compensation
$226,300 (EX Level I)
Source: 5 U.S.C. §5303(f), §5304(g)(1), and §5307(a)(1).
Notes: The 2022 pay table for the Executive Schedule is at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-
leave/salaries-wages/salary-tables/pdf/2022/EX.pdf.
As a result of the January 2022 pay adjustments, employees in the middle to upper steps of the
GS-15 pay grade are affected by the EX Level IV cap on combined base pay and locality pay in
the 30 locality pay areas listed in Table 2 below. As annual adjustments to base and locality pay
are provided, and this limitation prevents raises from taking effect at the top of the scale—called
“pay compression”—employees paid at an increasing number of GS step levels have reached this
cap. The most severe compression is occurring in the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland locality
pay area, where employees at GS-15 steps 4 through 10 (and GS-14 step 10) all receive the same
rate of pay (i.e., $176,300).
Table 2. General Schedule Employees Affected by Limitation on Pay, by GS Step and
Locality Pay Area
Limitation on Base Pay and Locality Pay Combined
GS-15, Step of the General Schedule
Locality Pay Areas
Pay raises for employees at step 10 are capped at the
Atlanta-Athens-Clarke County-Sandy Springs, GA-AL;
EX Level IV pay rate.
Buffalo Cheektowaga, NY; Cincinnati-Wilmington-
Maysville, OH-KY-IN; Cleveland-Akron-Canton, OH;
Columbus-Marion-Zanesville, OH; Huntsville-Decatur-
Albertville, AL; Milwaukee-Racine-Waukesha, WI;
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ; Raleigh-Durham-Chapel
Hill, NC; Richmond, VA; and State of Hawaii

37 Ibid.
38 Ibid.
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GS-15, Step of the General Schedule
Locality Pay Areas
Pay raises for employees at steps 9 and 10 are capped.
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX-OK; Miami-Fort Lauderdale-
Port St. Lucie, FL; Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI; and
Portland-Vancouver-Salem, OR-WA
Pay raises for employees at steps 8 through 10 are
Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-ME;
capped.
Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI; Denver-Aurora, CO;
Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, MI; Philadelphia-Reading-
Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD; Sacramento-Roseville, CA-
NV; and Seattle-Tacoma, WA
Pay raises for employees at steps 7 through 10 are
Hartford-West Hartford, CT-MA; Los Angeles-Long
capped.
Beach, CA; San Diego-Carlsbad, CA; Washington-
Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA; and State of
Alaska
Pay raises for employees at steps 6 through 10 are
Houston-The Woodlands, TX; New York-Newark,
capped.
NY-NJ-CT-PA
Pay raises for employees at steps 4 through 10 are
San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA
capped. (Employees at GS-14 step 10 are also capped.)
Source: CRS examination of General Schedule pay tables for 2022, https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/
pay-leave/salaries-wages/salary-tables/pdf/2022/saltbl.pdf.
Notes: By law (5 U.S.C. §5304(g)(1)), basic pay and locality pay combined cannot exceed EX Level IV ($176,300
as of January 2022).
General Schedule Pay Adjustment for 2022
President Joe Biden authorized the GS pay adjustment for 2022 in Executive Order (E.O.) 14061
issued on December 22, 2021.39 The E.O. provides a 2.7% federal civilian pay adjustment
allocated as 2.2% base pay and an average 0.5% (of basic payroll) locality pay. The adjustment
became effective on the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after January
1, 2022.
The FEPCA law required a 2.2% base pay adjustment in January 2022.40 On August 27, 2021,
President Biden issued an alternative plan providing a 2.7% pay adjustment allocated as 2.2%
base pay and 0.5% locality pay.41 The President’s budget for FY2022 stated, “The Administration
is committed to empowering, rebuilding, and protecting the Federal workforce” and proposed a
2.7% pay increase for federal civilian employees.42
Should Congress seek to provide a different pay adjustment amount, any such provision would
typically be included in annual Financial Services and General Government (FSGG)

39 U.S. President (Biden), Executive Order 14061, “Adjustments of Certain Rates of Pay,” 86 Federal Register 73601-
73613, December 28, 2021, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-12-28/pdf/2021-28313.pdf.
40 BLS, Employment Cost Index-September 2020, Table A, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/
eci_10302020.htm. (Private industry wages and salaries, September 2020: 2.7% minus 0.5% equals 2.2%.)
41 The White House, “Letter to the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate on the Alternative Plan for Pay
Adjustments for Civilian Federal Employees,” August 27, 2021, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/
statements-releases/2021/08/27/letter-to-the-speaker-of-the-house-and-the-president-of-the-senate-on-the-alternative-
plan-for-pay-adjustments-for-civilian-federal-employees/.
42 U.S. Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal
Year 2022, Analytical Perspectives, p. 41, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET-2022-PER/pdf/BUDGET-
2022-PER.pdf.
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appropriations bills. H.R. 4345, Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act
2022, as reported by the House Committee on Appropriations on July 1, 2021,43 was silent on the
pay adjustment, thereby endorsing the President’s recommendation.44 The draft of the FSGG bill
text released by the Senate Committee on Appropriations on October 18, 2021, showed that the
Senate bill was also silent on the pay adjustment, thereby endorsing the President’s
recommendation.45
Congress did not enact the FY2022 annual appropriations bills by the beginning of the fiscal year
on October 1, 2021. Instead, federal agencies were funded under continuing appropriations acts at
least through February 18, 2022.46 On February 8, 2022, the House of Representives passed H.R.
6617, Further Additional Extending Government Funding Act, on a vote (Roll No. 39) of 272 to
162.47 The bill would extend funding for federal agencies through March 11, 2022.
Under FEPCA, the base pay adjustment required in January 2023 would be 4.1%.48 In the 117th
Congress, 2nd session, Representative Gerald Connolly introduced H.R. 6398, the Federal
Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act on January 13, 2022,49 and Senator Brian Schatz
introduced S. 3518, the FAIR Act, on January 19, 2022.50 The bills would provide a base pay
adjustment of 4.1% and a locality pay adjustment of 1.0% in 2023.51
General Schedule Pay Adjustments Since 2010
Table A-3 in the Appendix shows federal civilian white-collar pay adjustments for each of the
years 2010-2022. The table provides information on the federal pay adjustments proposed in the

43 U.S. House Committee on Appropriations, Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Bill 2022,
H.Rept. 117-79, report to accompany H.R. 4345, 117th Cong., 1st sess., https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-
117hrpt79/pdf/CRPT-117hrpt79.pdf.
44 A consolidated appropriations bill passed the House of Representatives but was not considered by the Senate. H.R.
4502, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Agriculture, Rural Development, Energy and Water
Development, Financial Services and General Government, Interior, Environment, Military Construction, Veterans
Affairs, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Act, 2022, as passed by the House of
Representatives on July 29, 2021, on a vote (Roll No. 247) of 219 to 208, was silent on the pay adjustment, thereby
endorsing the President’s recommendation. See also Rules Committee Print 117-12, Text of the Labor, Health and
Human Services, Education, Agriculture, Rural Development, Energy and Water Development, Financial Services and
General Government, Interior, Environment, Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, Transportation, and Housing and
Urban Development Appropriations Act, 2022, July 16, 2021, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CPRT-
117HPRT45145/pdf/CPRT-117HPRT45145.pdf.
45 U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations, “Chairman Leahy Releases Remaining Nine Senate Appropriations
Bills,” October 18, 2021, https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/majority/chairman-leahy-releases-remaining-
nine-senate-appropriations-bills.
46 P.L. 117-43 (H.R. 5305), Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act, enacted on
September 30, 2021, provided funding through December 3, 2021. (The law is codified at 135 Stat. 344.) P.L. 117-70
(H.R. 6119), Further Extending Government Funding Act, enacted on December 3, 2021, provides funding through
February 18, 2022. (The law is codified at 135 Stat. 1499.)
47 H.R. 6617, Further Additional Extending Government Funding Act, https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/
house-bill/6617.
48 BLS, Employment Cost Index-September 2021, Table A, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/
eci_10292021.htm. (Private industry wages and salaries, September 2021: 4.6% minus 0.5% equals 4.1%.)
49 The text of H.R. 6398 is at https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/6398.
50 The text of S. 3518 is at https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/3518.
51 Earlier, in the first session of the 117th Congress, Representative Connolly introduced H.R. 392, the FAIR Act, on
January 21, 2021, and Senator Schatz introduced S. 561, the FAIR Act, on March 3, 2021, “To increase the rates of pay
under the statutory pay systems and for prevailing rate employees by 3.2 percent in 2022.”
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budget, base pay adjustments required by law, base pay adjustments authorized, average locality
pay adjustments required by law, average locality pay adjustments authorized,52 and total (base
and average locality) pay adjustments authorized. That information is summarized here:
 In January 2010, federal employees received base pay and locality pay
adjustments.53
 From January 2011 through December 31, 2013, base pay and locality pay rates
for federal employees were frozen at the rates established in January 2010.54
 In January 2014 and January 2015, federal employees received base pay
adjustments.55
 From January 2014 through December 31, 2015, locality pay rates remained
frozen under alternative pay plans issued by President Barack Obama.56
 In January 2016, January 2017, January 2018, January 2019, and January 2020,
federal employees received base pay and locality pay adjustments.57
 In January 2021, federal employees received base pay adjustments.58

52 The average locality pay adjustment authorized is the average of GS payroll.
53 U.S. President (Obama), Executive Order 13525, “Adjustments of Certain Rates of Pay,” 74 Federal Register 69231-
69242, December 30, 2009, https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2009-12-30/pdf/E9-31098.pdf.
54 Section 1(a)(2) of P.L. 111-322, Continuing Appropriations and Surface Transportation Extensions Act, 2011,
enacted on December 22, 2010 (124 Stat. 3518), https://www.congress.gov/111/plaws/publ322/PLAW-
111publ322.pdf; Section 1112 of P.L. 113-6, the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013,
enacted on March 26, 2013 (127 Stat. 198, at 414), https://www.congress.gov/113/plaws/publ6/PLAW-113publ6.pdf;
U.S. President (Obama), “Message to the Congress Transmitting an Alternative Plan for Pay Increases for Civilian
Federal Employees,” November 30, 2010, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-201001027/pdf/DCPD-
201001027.pdf; and U.S. President (Obama), “Letter to Congressional Leaders Transmitting an Alternative Plan for
Pay Increases for Civilian Federal Employees,” August 21, 2012, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-
201200661/pdf/DCPD-201200661.pdf.
55 U.S. President (Obama), Executive Order 13655, “Adjustments of Certain Rates of Pay,” 78 Federal Register 80451-
80462, December 31, 2013, https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-12-31/pdf/2013-31445.pdf; U.S. President
(Obama), Executive Order 13686, “Adjustments of Certain Rates of Pay,” 79 Federal Register 77361-77372,
December 24, 2014, https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-12-24/pdf/2014-30363.pdf.
56 U.S. President (Obama), “Letter to Congressional Leaders on an Alternate Pay Plan for Civilian Federal Employees,”
August 30, 2013, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-201300594/pdf/DCPD-201300594.pdf; U.S. President
(Obama), “Letter to Congressional Leaders Transmitting an Alternative Pay Plan for Civilian Federal Employees,”
August 29, 2014, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-201400633/pdf/DCPD-201400633.pdf.
57 U.S. President (Obama), Executive Order 13715, “Adjustments of Certain Rates of Pay,” 80 Federal Register 80195-
80206, December 23, 2015, https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-12-23/pdf/2015-32582.pdf; U.S. President
(Obama), Executive Order 13756, “Adjustments of Certain Rates of Pay,” 81 Federal Register 97099-97110,
December 30, 2016, https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-12-30/pdf/2016-31875.pdf; U.S. President (Trump),
Executive Order 13819, “Adjustments of Certain Rates of Pay,” 82 Federal Register 61431-61442, December 27,
2017, https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2017-12-27/pdf/2017-28160.pdf; U.S. President (Trump), Executive Order
13866, “Adjustments of Certain Rates of Pay,” 84 Federal Register 12853-12865, April 2, 2019,
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2019-04-02/pdf/2019-06548.pdf. (Executive Order 13866 superseded U.S.
President (Trump), Executive Order 13856, “Adjustments of Certain Rates of Pay,” 84 Federal Register 65-77, January
8, 2019, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2019-01-08/pdf/2019-00048.pdf.) U.S. President (Trump),
Executive Order 13901, “Adjustments of Certain Rates of Pay,” 84 Federal Register 72213-72225, December 30,
2019, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2019-12-30/pdf/2019-28286.pdf.
58 U.S. President (Trump), Executive Order 13970, “Adjustments of Certain Rates of Pay,” 86 Federal Register 421-
433, January 6, 2021, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-01-06/pdf/2021-00040.pdf.
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 From January 2021 through December 31, 2021, locality pay rates remained
frozen under an alternative plan issued by President Donald Trump.59
 In January 2022, federal employees received base pay and locality pay
adjustments.60
Issues for Congress
The House of Representatives and the Senate may conduct oversight on several issues related to
GS pay setting and adjustment, including the following.
Review the FEPCA Statutory Provisions on GS Pay Setting and
Adjustment
The federal pay provisions in FEPCA have largely not been amended since the law was enacted
in 1990. The provisions codified at Title 5, Section 5303, of the U.S. Code on annual adjustments
to pay schedules and Section 5304a on authority to fix an alternative level of comparability
payments have not been amended. The provisions codified in Section 5304 on locality-based
comparability payments have been amended five times. See Table A-1 in the Appendix for
information on selected amendments that have been made to Section 5304 since 1990.
Congress may examine the following selected documents to inform such a review: An April 2002
white paper on federal pay published by OPM, a May 2017 hearing conducted by the House
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and a November 2021 evaluation published
by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
OPM White Paper
OPM’s study examined the FEPCA and found that three factors contribute to the law’s
“credibility gap.” According to OPM:
The first is rooted in FEPCA’s definition of comparability, reflected in its statutory
principle that “Federal pay rates be comparable with non-Federal pay rates for the same
levels of work within the same local pay area.” In other words, FEPCA’s conception of
labor markets is two-dimensional, with the dimensions being grade (i.e., level of work) and
locality. This conception bears little resemblance to the reality of labor markets.
The second factor … is that its methodology presumes an unrealistic level of precision and
requires lengthy deliberation, both at the expense of relevance and strategic utility. Under
FEPCA, general pay increases are based on changes in the Employment Cost Index (ECI).
Locality payments, which are calculated to one one-hundredth of one percent, are based on
surveys of salaries in each locality pay area. Because these surveys are extensive and
statistically rigorous, significant time lags occur between data gathering and pay-setting
and implementation. After adding the time that the Federal budget planning and
appropriation processes must necessarily entail, the result is a tenuous relationship between
pay adjustments and current market conditions.

59 U.S. President (Trump), “2020 Message to the Congress Transmitting an Alternative Plan for Pay Adjustments for
Civilian Federal Employees,” February 10, 2020, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-202000067/pdf/DCPD-
202000067.pdf.
60 U.S. President (Biden), Executive Order 14061, “Adjustments of Certain Rates of Pay,” 86 Federal Register 73601-
73613, December 28, 2021, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-12-28/pdf/2021-28313.pdf.
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The third factor … is that its statutory language requires the calculation of a single average
pay gap in each locality pay area. Even though sophisticated methods of weighting are used
to take into account the actual presence and distribution of Federal work, the result
nonetheless disguises and ignores substantial differences in the degree to which Federal
and non-Federal salaries for particular occupations or grades differ…. [T]he average the
law requires us to use in describing a “pay gap” is no Golden Mean, but more of a Great
Muddle that describes nothing very meaningfully and masks the relevant differences across
occupations and levels of work in each locality pay area, to the strategic detriment of the
entire approach.61
The study also reaffirmed the importance of the merit system in stating that:
Even in a modernized pay system, the merit system principles with their clear recognition
of internal equity, external equity, and individual equity, can and should still serve as the
fundamental drivers of Government action. These core—and remarkably timeless—
principles sustain the vision that the Government remains a single employer in principle,
if not in all areas of specific practice.62
House Hearing
In May 2017, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform conducted a hearing
on federal employee compensation.63 The committee received testimony from representatives of
the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the Heritage
Foundation, GAO, and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). Analysis of
the differences in total compensation for federal civilian employees and similar workers in the
private sector between 2011 and 2015 was a focus of the testimony provided by Joseph Kile,
assistant director for microeconomic studies at CBO. The agency’s study found:
Among workers with a high school diploma or less, total compensation costs were 53
percent more on average for Federal employees than for their private sector counterparts.
Among workers whose education culminated in a bachelor’s degree, which is the most
common level of education in the Federal workforce, total compensation costs were 21
percent more for the Federal workers than for workers in the private sector…. [T]otal
compensation costs among workers with a professional degree or a doctorate were 18
percent less for Federal employees than for workers in the private sector.64
Andrew Biggs, resident scholar at AEI, testified that federal pay setting should be “more flexible
to the needs of the labor market” and “move away from the one-size-fits-all general schedule
which tries to equate dramatically different jobs onto a single pay scale.”65 In her testimony,
Rachel Greszler, research fellow in economics, budget and entitlements at the Heritage
Foundation, said that the level of within-grade pay increases should be reduced with some of the
savings used for pay increases that are performance-based.66

61 OPM, A Fresh Start for Federal Pay: The Case for Modernization, April 2002, pp. 14-15,
https://ourpublicservice.org/wp-content/uploads/2002/04/ea4746e133b5f93e4f4086c873bd0bd9-1414080224.pdf.
62 Ibid., p. 35.
63 U.S. Congress, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Hearing, Federal Employee
Compensation: An Update, 115th Cong., 1st sess., May 18, 2017, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-
115hhrg26558/pdf/CHRG-115hhrg26558.pdf. Hereinafter referred to as 2017 House Hearing.
64 Testimony of Joseph Kile, 2017 House Hearing, p. 8. His written statement is at pp. 9-31.
65 Testimony of Andrew Biggs, 2017 House Hearing, p. 32. His written statement is at pp. 34-39.
66 Testimony of Rachel Greszler, 2017 House Hearing, p. 41. Her written statement is at pp. 42-51.
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Robert Goldenkoff, director of strategic issues at GAO, provided testimony that federal agencies
must better use the tools and flexibilities that are already available. He stated that “while
implementing a more market-based and performance-oriented pay system is both doable and
desirable, it certainly won’t be easy.” According to Goldenkoff, private and nonprofit
organizations told GAO, “Among other things … it was important to examine the value of
employees’ total compensation to remain competitive in the labor market; provide training on
leadership, management, coaching, and feedback to facilitate effective communication and to link
individual performance to organizational results; and third, build meaningful stakeholder
consensus to gain ownership and acceptance for any pay reforms.”67
Jacqueline Simon, public policy director at AFGE, testified that the federal pay system’s “fairness
and internal equity” can be matched by “few in the private sector.” She added that its market
comparability principle and “authority for managers to reward high performers and punish poor
performance are more than adequate.”68
Government Accountability Office Evaluation
In November 2021, GAO published an evaluation titled, “Human Capital: Administration and
Implementation of the General Schedule Locality Pay Program.”69 The report reviewed the
federal locality pay adjustment process and reiterated the FSC’s proposal to the President’s Pay
Agent in May 2019 for five alternative survey methodologies for determining locality payments.70
General Schedule Pay Compression
As mentioned earlier, under current law the base pay and locality pay combined cannot exceed
the pay rate for Level IV of the EX, which is $176,300, as of January 2022.71 As annual
adjustments to base and locality pay are provided and this limitation prevents raises from taking
effect at the top of the scale—“pay compression”—employees paid at an increasing number of
GS step levels have reached this cap.
As a result of the January 2022 pay adjustments, employees in the middle to upper steps of the
GS-15 pay grade are affected by the pay cap in 30 locality pay areas. The most severe
compression is occurring in the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland locality pay area, where
employees at GS-15 steps 4 through 10, (and GS-14 step 10) all receive the same rate of pay. In
Houston-The Woodlands, TX, and the New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA locality pay area,
employees at steps 6 through 10 of the GS are paid at the same rate. For the Hartford-West
Hartford, CT-MA; Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA; San Diego-Carlsbad, CA; Washington-
Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA; and State of Alaska locality pay areas, employees at
steps 7 through 10 receive the same pay rate.72

67 Testimony of Robert Goldenkoff, 2017 House Hearing, p. 52. His written statement is at pp. 54-71.
68 Testimony of Jacqueline Simon, 2017 House Hearing, p. 73. Her written statement is at pp. 74-89.
69 GAO, Human Capital: Administration and Implementation of the General Schedule Locality Pay Program, GAO-
22-104580, November 30, 2021, https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-22-104580.pdf.
70 GAO, Human Capital. See, especially, Table 1 in the report on the five alternative survey methodologies for locality
pay at pp. 24-26.
71 5 U.S.C. §5304(g)(1).
72 See Table 2 in the text of this report.
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Pay Freeze for Certain Senior Political Officials
Section 160 of P.L. 117-70 (H.R. 6119), the Further Extending Government Funding Act, enacted
on December 3, 2021,73 contains a provision that continues the pay freeze for the Vice President
and certain senior political appointees “into calendar year 2022 and through February 18, 2022
(unless an earlier end date is established by subsequent law).”74 The provision became effective
on the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after January 1, 2022. According
to OPM, “Future Congressional action will determine whether the pay freeze continues beyond
that date.”75
On December 22, 2021, OPM issued a Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments
and Agencies titled, “Continued Pay Freeze for Certain Senior Political Officials,” providing
guidance on the law’s implementation. The memorandum stated, in part:
The pay freeze applies to the payable rates for covered senior political officials. The freeze
does not affect the official rates for the Vice President and the Executive Schedule, which
are adjusted under normally applicable law without regard to the pay freeze. While not
payable to freeze covered officials, those official rates continue to be used in establishing
pay limitations for employees not covered by the pay freeze. In January 2022, the official
rates for the Vice President and the Executive Schedule will be increased by 2.2 percent.76
Under the pay freeze, the following salaries remain in effect for certain senior executive branch
political appointees and thus contribute to the pay compression experienced by select employees
in the GS:
 Vice President: $235,100;
 Executive Schedule (EX) level I: $203,500;
 EX level II: $183,100;
 EX level III: $168,400;
 EX level IV: $158,500; and
 EX level V: $148,500.77

73 P.L. 117-70 is codified at 135 Stat. 1499, at 1500 (https://www.congress.gov/117/plaws/publ70/PLAW-
117publ70.pdf).
74 OPM, Memorandum for Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies, “Continued Pay Freeze for Certain Senior
Political Officials,” December 22, 2021, https://chcoc.gov/sites/default/files/memo-on-senior-politicals-pay-
freeze%20CPM%202021-28.pdf. The memorandum stated, in part: “Section 160 of the Continuing Appropriations Act,
2022 (division A of P.L. 117-43, September 30, 2021), as added by section 101 of the Further Continuing
Appropriations Act, 2022 (P.L. 117-70, December 3, 2021), provides that the provisions of section 748 of the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (P.L. 116-260, December 27, 2020), ‘shall be applied’ after substituting
language to make the provisions applicable to calendar year 2022—beginning on the first day of the first applicable pay
period beginning on or after January 1, 2022, and ending on February 18, 2022, which is the end of ‘the period covered
by this Act’—the end date of the continuing resolution. Section 106(3) of division A of the Continuing Appropriations
Act, 2022, as amended by section 101 of the Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2022, provides continuing
appropriations to Federal agencies through February 18, 2022, unless an earlier end date is established by subsequent
legislation.”
75 Ibid. On February 8, 2022, the House of Representives passed H.R. 6617, Further Additional Extending Government
Funding Act, on a vote (Roll No. 39) of 272 to 162. The bill would extend funding for federal agencies through March
11, 2022.
76 Ibid.
77 Ibid., p. 3 of Attachment.
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Appendix. Selected Amendments to Locality Pay
Statute, Locality Payments Required by FEPCA, GS
Pay Adjustments Since 2010
Table A-1. Selected Amendments to 5 U.S.C. §5304, Locality-Based Comparability
Payments
Since 1990
Public Law
Selected Amendments
P.L. 102-378, October 2, 1992
(e)(1). inserted after second sentence “However,
members under subparagraph (A) may be paid
expenses in accordance with section 5703.”
(e)(2)(A)(ii). substituted “surveys of pay localities” for
“annual survey” and “industries” for “industries.”
(h)(1)(iii). added cl. (iii):
(iii) a position to which subchapter II applies (relating to
the Executive Schedule);
(h)(2)(C). added subpar. (C):
(C) Notwithstanding subsection (c)(4) or any other
provision of law, but subject to paragraph (3), in the
case of a category with positions that are in more than
1 Executive agency, the President may, on his own
initiative, provide that each employee who holds a
position within such category, and in the locality
involved, shall be entitled to receive comparability
payments. No later than 30 days before an employee
receives comparability payments under this
subparagraph, the President or the President’s designee
shall submit a detailed report to the Congress justifying
the reasons for the extension, including consideration
of recruitment and retention rates and the expense of
extending locality pay.
(h)(3)(B). amended subpar. (B) generally:
(B) shall take effect, within the locality involved, on the
first day of the first applicable pay period commencing
on or after such date as the President designates
(except that no date may be designated which would
require any retroactive payments), and shall remain in
effect through the last day of the last applicable pay
period commencing during that calendar year;
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Public Law
Selected Amendments
P.L. 108-136, November 24, 2003
(h)(1)(iv) to (vi). added cls. (iv) to (vi):
but does not include-
(iv) a Senior Executive Service position under section
3132, except for a position covered by subparagraph
(C);
(v) a position in the Federal Bureau of Investigation and
Drug Enforcement Administration Senior Executive
Service under section 3151, except for a position
covered by subparagraph (C);
(vi) a position in a system equivalent to the system in
clause (iv), as determined by the President’s Pay Agent
designated under subsection (d);
P.L. 111-84, October 28, 2009
(f)(1)(A). added subpar. (A):
(A) each General Schedule position in the United
States, as defined under section 5921(4), and its
territories and possessions, including the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, shall
be included within a pay locality;
(g)(2)(B), (C). added subpars. (B) and (C):
(2) The applicable maximum under this subsection shall
be level III of the Executive Schedule for- …
(B) positions under subsection (h)(1)(C) not covered
by appraisal systems certified under subsection 5307(d);
and (C) any positions under subsection (h)(1)(D) as the
President may determine.
(g)(3). added par. (3):
(3) The applicable maximum under this subsection shall
be level II of the Executive Schedule for positions under
subsection (h)(1)(C) covered by appraisal systems
certified under section 5307(d).
(h)(1)(C). added subpar. (C):
(C) a Senior Executive Service position under section
3132 or 3151 or a senior level position under section
5376 stationed within the United States, but outside
the 48 contiguous States and the District of Columbia
in which the incumbent was an individual who on the
day before the effective date of section 1912 of the
Non-Foreign Area Retirement Equity Assurance Act of
2009 was eligible to receive a cost-of-living allowance
under section 5941 and who thereafter has served
continuously in an area in which such an allowance was
payable;
Source: CRS examination of Title 5, Section 5304, of the U.S. Code in U.S. House of Representatives, Office of
the Law Revision Counsel, United States Code, https://uscode.house.gov/.
Notes: P.L. 108-411, October 30, 2004, and P.L. 110-372, October 8, 2008, also amended certain sections of
Section 5304, but later public laws made further amendments to those sections.
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Table A-2. President’s Pay Agent: January 2022 Locality-Based Comparability
Payments Required by FEPCA
Locality Pay Area
Percentage
Alaska
52.86%
Albany-Schenectady, NY-MA
42.49%
Albuquerque-Santa Fe-Las Vegas, NM
30.95%
Atlanta—Athens-Clarke County—Sandy Springs, GA-AL
36.74%
Austin-Round Rock, TX
37.60%
Birmingham-Hoover-Talladega, AL
33.05%
Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-ME
59.15%
Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY
38.00%
Burlington-South Burlington, VT
39.30%
Charlotte-Concord, NC-SC
36.37%
Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI
46.81%
Cincinnati-Wilmington-Maysville, OH-KY-IN
32.70%
Cleveland-Akron-Canton, OH
33.93%
Colorado Springs, CO
37.32%
Columbus-Marion-Zanesville, OH
40.50%
Corpus Christi-Kingsville-Alice, TX
24.60%
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX-OK
46.43%
Davenport-Moline, IA-IL
33.68%
Dayton-Springfield-Sidney, OH
42.27%
Denver-Aurora, CO
56.95%
Des Moines-Ames-West Des Moines, IA
33.43%
Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, MI
43.93%
Harrisburg-Lebanon, PA
38.81%
Hartford-West Hartford, CT-MA
51.19%
Hawaii
45.37%
Houston-The Woodlands, TX
52.88%
Huntsville-Decatur-Albertville, AL
38.19%
Indianapolis-Carmel-Muncie, IN
27.42%
Kansas City-Overland Park-Kansas City, MO-KS
33.67%
Laredo, TX
48.64%
Las Vegas-Henderson, NV-AZ
35.28%
Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA
69.30%
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Port St. Lucie, FL
32.50%
Milwaukee-Racine-Waukesha, WI
32.18%
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI
50.30%
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Locality Pay Area
Percentage
New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA
67.12%
Omaha-Council Bluffs-Fremont, NE-IA
34.91%
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL
25.41%
Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD
54.17%
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ
42.24%
Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, PA-OH-WV
34.83%
Portland-Vancouver-Salem, OR-WA
42.24%
Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC
34.42%
Rest of US
23.79%
Richmond, VA
41.29%
Sacramento-Roseville, CA-NV
54.92%
San Antonio-New Braunfels-Pearsall, TX
35.70%
San Diego-Carlsbad, CA
63.73%
San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA
81.54%
Seattle-Tacoma, WA
65.90%
St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington, MO-IL
39.20%
Tucson-Nogales, AZ
35.08%
Virginia Beach-Norfolk, VA-NC
37.22%
Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA
62.69%
Source: U.S. President’s Pay Agent, Annual Report of the President’s Pay Agent for Locality Pay in 2022, Report
on Locality-Based Comparability Payments for the General Schedule, December 15, 2021, Table 2, pp. 21-22,
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/pay-systems/general-schedule/pay-agent-reports/
2020report.pdf.
Notes: The locality payments procedures established by the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act provide
that payments are to be made within each locality determined to have a pay disparity greater than 5%. (5 U.S.C.
§5304(a)(1)).
Table A-3. Federal General Schedule Pay Adjustments: 2010-2022
Total (Base
Pay and
Average
Average
Federal Pay
Base Pay
Locality Pay
Average
Locality
Adjustments Adjustments
Base Pay
Adjustments Locality Pay
Pay)
Proposed in
Required by
Adjustments
Required by
Adjustments Adjustments
Year
the Budget
Law
Authorized
Law
Authorized
Authorized
January
2.0%
2.4%
1.5%
17.4%
0.5%
2.0%
2010
January
1.4%
0.9%
0
16.3%
0
0
2011
January
0
1.1%
0
18.14%
0
0
2012
January
0.5%
1.2%
0
20.28%
0
0
2013
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Federal Civilian White-Collar Pay Adjustments: Process, Proposed for 2022, and Amounts

Total (Base
Pay and
Average
Average
Federal Pay
Base Pay
Locality Pay
Average
Locality
Adjustments Adjustments
Base Pay
Adjustments Locality Pay
Pay)
Proposed in
Required by
Adjustments
Required by
Adjustments Adjustments
Year
the Budget
Law
Authorized
Law
Authorized
Authorized
January
1.0%
1.3%
1.0%
28.23%
0
1.0%
2014
January
1.0%
1.3%
1.0%
28.92%
0
1.0%
2015
January
1.3%
1.8%
1.0%
28.74%
0.3%
1.3%
2016
January
1.6%
1.6%
1.0%
28.49%
1.1%
2.1%
2017
January
1.9%
1.9%
1.4%
27.64%
0.5%
1.9%
2018
January
0
2.1%
1.4%
26.39%
0.5%
1.9%
2019
January
0
2.6%
2.6%
24.70%
0.5%
3.1%
2020
January
1.0%
2.5%
1.0%
20.67%
0
1.0%
2021
January
2.7%
2.2%
2.2%
17.35%
0.5%
2.7%
2022
Source: For the federal pay adjustments proposed in the budget, U.S. Executive Office of the President, Office
of Management and Budget (OMB), Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Years 2010-2019, Analytical Perspectives,
2009-2018, pp. 172, 13, 15, 17, 11, 11, 12, 12, 11, and 11, respectively, https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/
collectionGPO.action?collectionCode=BUDGET. Table 12-1 in the FY2010 document and Table 2-1 in the
FY2011-FY2019 documents.
For 2018, Table 2-1 showed a pay adjustment of 2.1%. The text of the budget document stated a pay adjustment
of 1.9%. See OMB, Budget of the U.S. Government Fiscal Year 2018, Analytical Perspectives, May 2017, p. 59,
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BUDGET-2018-PER/pdf/BUDGET-2018-PER.pdf. News reports stated that the
budget proposed a pay adjustment of 1.9%. For example, Nicole Ogrysko, “Trump Sets 2018 Pay Raise for
Federal Employees,” Federal News Network, August 31, 2017, https://federalnewsnetwork.com/all-news/2017/08/
trump-sets-2018-pay-raise-for-federal-employees/.
For 2019, OMB, Budget of the U.S. Government Fiscal Year 2019, Analytical Perspectives, February 2018, p. 73,
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET-2019-PER/pdf/BUDGET-2019-PER.pdf.
The budgets for FY2020, FY2021, and FY2022 did not include the information in Table 2-1. For 2020, OMB,
Budget of the U.S. Government Fiscal Year 2020, Analytical Perspectives, February 2019, p. 73,
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET-2020-PER/pdf/BUDGET-2020-PER.pdf.
For 2021, OMB, Budget of the U.S. Government Fiscal Year 2021, Analytical Perspectives, February 2020, p. 53,
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET-2021-PER/pdf/BUDGET-2021-PER.pdf.
For 2022, OMB, Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2022, Analytical Perspectives, February 2021, p. 41,
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BUDGET-2022-PER/pdf/BUDGET-2022-PER.pdf.
For the base pay adjustments required by law, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS),
Employment Cost Index, September 2008-September 2020 (Washington: BLS, October 2008-2020). Table B in the
2008 report and Table A in the 2009-2020 reports, at https://www.bls.gov/bls/news-release/eci.htm. The data
used to calculate the base pay adjustment are 15 months old at the time of the adjustment.
For the average locality pay adjustments required by law, U.S. President’s Pay Agent, Report on Locality-Based
Comparability Payments for the General Schedule, Annual Report of the President’s Pay Agent, pp. 25, 23, 18, 27, 21, 22,
24, 22, 24, 20, 22, 22, and 22, respectively, in the reports on the 2010-2022 adjustments, at
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https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/pay-systems/general-schedule/#url=Pay-Agent-Reports. The
percentages represent the average increases over the existing locality pay rates. The reports on the locality pay
adjustments were released as follows: December 2, 2008, for January 2010; December 7, 2009, for January 2011;
March 29, 2011, for January 2012; March 19, 2012, for January 2013; May 7, 2013, for January 2014; June 17,
2014, for January 2015; October 23, 2015, for January 2016; December 5, 2016, for January 2017; December 20,
2017, for January 2018; November 30, 2018, for January 2019; December 19, 2019, for January 2020; December
17, 2020, for January 2021; and December 15, 2021, for January 2022.
President Barack Obama’s alternative plans stated that the average locality pay adjustment that would have been
required in 2010 was 16.5%. U.S. President (Obama), “Letter to Congressional Leaders Transmitting an
Alternative Plan for Pay Increases for Civilian Federal Employees,” August 31, 2009, https://www.govinfo.gov/
content/pkg/DCPD-200900673/pdf/DCPD-200900673.pdf. U.S. President (Obama), “Letter to Congressional
Leaders Transmitting an Alternative Plan for Pay Increases for Civilian Federal Employees,” November 30, 2009,
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-200900959/pdf/DCPD-200900959.pdf.
Other alternative plans were: U.S. President (Obama), “Message to the Congress Transmitting an Alternative
Plan for Pay Increases for Civilian Federal Employees,” November 30, 2010, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/
pkg/DCPD-201001027/pdf/DCPD-201001027.pdf; U.S. President (Obama), “Letter to Congressional Leaders
Transmitting an Alternative Plan for Pay Increases for Civilian Federal Employees,” August 21, 2012,
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-201200661/pdf/DCPD-201200661.pdf; U.S. President (Obama),
“Letter to Congressional Leaders on an Alternate Pay Plan for Civilian Federal Employees,” August 30, 2013,
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-201300594/pdf/DCPD-201300594.pdf; U.S. President (Obama),
“Letter to Congressional Leaders Transmitting an Alternative Pay Plan for Civilian Federal Employees,” August
29, 2014, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-201400633/pdf/DCPD-201400633.pdf; U.S. President
(Obama), “Letter to Congressional Leaders Transmitting an Alternative Pay Plan for Civilian Federal Employees,”
August 28, 2015, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-201500577/pdf/DCPD-201500577.pdf; and U.S.
President (Obama), “Letter to Congressional Leaders Transmitting an Alternative Pay Plan for Civilian Federal
Employees,” August 31, 2016, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-201600546/pdf/DCPD-
201600546.pdf.
President Donald Trump’s alternative plans for locality pay stated that the average locality pay adjustment that
would have been required in 2018 was 26.16% (U.S. President [Trump], “Letter to Congressional Leaders
Transmitting an Alternative Pay Plan for Civilian Federal Employees,” August 31, 2017, https://www.govinfo.gov/
content/pkg/DCPD-201700600/pdf/DCPD-201700600.pdf); in 2019 was 25.70% (U.S. President [Trump], “Letter
to Congressional Leaders Transmitting an Alternative Pay Plan for Civilian Federal Employees,” August 30, 2018,
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-201800561/html/DCPD-201800561.htm); in 2020 was 24.01% (U.S.
President [Trump], “Letter to Congressional Leaders Transmitting an Alternative Plan for Pay Adjustments for
Civilian Federal Employees Covered by the General Schedule,” August 30, 2019, https://www.govinfo.gov/
content/pkg/DCPD-201900579/pdf/DCPD-201900579.pdf); and in 2021 was 20.67% (President [Trump],
“Message to the Congress Transmitting an Alternative Plan for Pay Adjustments for Civilian Federal Employees,”
February 10, 2020, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-202000067/pdf/DCPD-202000067.pdf).
For President Joe Biden’s alternative plan for 2022, see The White House, “Letter to the Speaker of the House
and the President of the Senate on the Alternative Plan for Pay Adjustments for Civilian Federal Employees,”
August 27, 2021, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/08/27/letter-to-the-
speaker-of-the-house-and-the-president-of-the-senate-on-the-alternative-plan-for-pay-adjustments-for-civilian-
federal-employees/.
For the base pay, average locality pay, and total pay adjustments authorized, Executive Order (E.O.) 13525,
December 23, 2009; E.O. 13561, December 22, 2010; E.O. 13594, December 19, 2011; E.O. 13635, December
27, 2012, as superseded by E.O. 13641, April 5, 2013; E.O. 13655, December 23, 2013; E.O. 13686, December
19, 2014; E.O. 13715, December 18, 2015; E.O. 13756, December 27, 2016; E.O. 13819, December 22, 2017;
E.O. 13856, December 28, 2018, as superseded by E.O. 13866, March 28, 2019; E.O. 13901, December 26, 2019;
E.O. 13970, December 31, 2020; and E.O. 14061, December 22, 2021.
Notes: Section 529 of P.L. 101-509, the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act of 1990, enacted on
November 5, 1990 (104 Stat. 1389, at 1427), authorizes the base pay and locality pay adjustments. Under Title 5,
Section 5303(a), of the U.S. Code, the base pay adjustment is effective as of the first day of the first applicable pay
period beginning on or after January 1 of each calendar year. Under Title 5, Section 5304(d)(2), the locality-based
comparability payments are effective as of the beginning of the first applicable pay period commencing on or after
January 1 of the applicable year.
The pay adjustment proposed in the budget is the overall average increase, including locality pay. The average
locality pay adjustment authorized is the average of General Schedule payroll.

Congressional Research Service

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Federal Civilian White-Collar Pay Adjustments: Process, Proposed for 2022, and Amounts

Author Information

Barbara L. Schwemle

Analyst in American National Government

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