Pay Ploy?

Federal employees who oppose leaving the General Schedule often fear that switching systems is just a scheme to cut their pay.

New numbers from the Congressional Budget Office challenge that premise. According to a March CBO paper titled, "Characteristics and Pay of Federal Civilian Employees," those paid under the General Schedule actually make less than their counterparts in alternate pay systems.

About 80 percent of white-collar civilian employees work in the General Schedule, with the remaining 20 percent falling under a variety of alternatives. In December 2005, the average GS employee brought home $63,000, compared to $82,000 for the lucky 20 percent in other systems. For those classified as professionals, the average GS employee earned $80,000 that year, versus $92,000 outside the GS.

The CBO offers a couple of explanations for the variation. Here's one: "Salaries of employees in the various non-GS pay plans were generally higher than those of GS pay plan workers, a fact that may in part reflect the flexibility that those non-GS plans allow agencies in setting pay."

That explanation seems to suggest that if agencies only had the choice, they would pay their employees more.

But the report's footnotes tell another story: "Alternatively, those higher pay levels may reflect the differences between GS and non-GS pay systems in the mix of jobs that each covers."

And another: "Another reason for the higher pay of non-GS workers may be that such employers, unlike those governed by the GS pay system, need not seek approval from [the Office of Personnel Management] for enhanced pay when critical personnel are in short supply."

Indeed, many agencies sought Congress' permission to leave the General Schedule because they couldn't pay enough in the old system to attract and retain their high-earning breed of employees. These include financial agencies such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and scientific ones such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

As the Defense Department continues its march toward implementing an alternate pay system for tens of thousands of employees -- not necessarily in elite professions -- it will be interesting to compare these numbers again in a few years.

For now, CBO breaks the numbers down further. Analysts examined the range of pay in these systems. For GS employees, the range between the 25th and the 75th percentile of salaries is $36,000. Pay for non-GS employees is less evenly distributed, with a $52,000 range. That means there's greater volatility, and greater pay potential in alternate pay systems.

Even if new pay systems are definitively proven not to be ploys to slash federal pay, it's the volatility that will continue to discomfort some.