Biden proposes salary increases for federal employees in January
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday announced plans to give all federal civilian employees an average 2.7% pay raise, consistent with the increases he had proposed in his 2022 budget.
″ I have determined that for 2022, the across-the-board base pay increase will be 2.2 percent and locality pay increases will average 0.5 percent, resulting in an overall average increase of 2.7 percent for civilian Federal employees,” Mr. Biden wrote in a letter to congressional leaders Friday.
The adjustments would take effect “on the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after January 1, 2022,” Mr. Biden wrote.
The raise would apply to some 2.1 million executive branch employees, although not to the more than 600,000 employees of the U.S. Postal Service, whose raises are set through bargaining. Cost-ofliving increases for federal retirees also are determined separately, reflecting the same inflation measure used for Social Security benefits.
“This alternative pay plan
decision will not materially affect our ability to attract and retain a well-qualified federal workforce,” Mr. Biden wrote.
The president’s announced pay increases are not set in stone. If Congress enacts different rates of pay increases for 2022, those numbers would take precedent over Mr. Biden’s. If Congress doesn’t specify any rates, Mr. Biden’s numbers take effect automatically. The Democratic-controlled Congress is unlikely to push for lower rates.
Several federal employee unions had been calling for a
3.2% increase. One of those, the National Treasury Employees Union, on Friday described Mr. Biden’s proposed raises as “a vast improvement over the previous administration’s attempts to freeze federal pay.”
As president, Donald Trump had several times proposed freezing federal salary rates. Nevertheless, federal employees received an annual raise since 2018 ranging from 1% to 3.1%. A 1% boost was paid early this year after Mr. Trump made a last-minute bid for a freeze despite initially proposing that amount.