{"id":27542,"date":"2024-03-11T19:45:50","date_gmt":"2024-03-11T19:45:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/03\/11\/federal-pay-raise-would-cool-under-bidens-2025-budget-request\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:08:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:08:35","slug":"federal-pay-raise-would-cool-under-bidens-2025-budget-request","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/congress\/budget\/2024\/03\/11\/federal-pay-raise-would-cool-under-bidens-2025-budget-request\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal pay raise would cool under Biden\u2019s 2025 budget request"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

President Joe Biden pitched an average 2% pay raise for federal employees for 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If that takes effect, it\u2019d be significantly lower than the 5.2% pay raise awarded in January<\/a> of this year and the 4.6% in 2023<\/a> but on par with what government workers received pre-pandemic and with projections that inflation will drop<\/a> to less than 2% next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt illustrates the administration\u2019s continued strong commitment to the civil service, reflecting the need to attract the talent necessary to serve Americans and recognizing the fiscal constraints Federal agencies face,\u201d Biden said in his fiscal 2025 budget request on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many federal agencies implemented this year\u2019s mandatory pay raise without 2024 funding. Still, some Democrats in Congress <\/a>have already pitched a 7% pay bump for next year, arguing that feds still need to be made whole after years of high consumer prices and recruiting challenges plaguing IT and health care, leaving federal workers vastly underpaid relative the the private sector. Even under Biden, raises have come short of what some lawmakers and federal unions have argued is appropriate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, it\u2019s only in the last two years that feds saw raises once again exceeding 3%. This year\u2019s pay increase was the largest since President Jimmy Carter\u2019s term. The last time there was a flat 2% pay raise was in 2010. In the decade that followed, pay raises hovered between 0% (during the second Obama administration) and 3%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCivilian federal workers right now are working for 27.5% less than their private-sector counterparts,\u201d said American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley in a statement. \u201cA paltry, 2% raise for civilian federal employees will do very little to close that widening gap.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t