Capital-area feds got 2008 raises on par with private sector

A recent compensation survey shows federal employees in the Washington region received 2008 pay hikes comparable to those of private sector workers.

The median salary increase for federal and private sector capital-area employees between 2007 and 2008 was around 4.5 percent, according to the survey by the Human Resource Association of the National Capital Area. The across-the-board federal raise for 2008 was 3.5 percent, but the actual boost employees take home depends on locality pay, and the Washington region was among the areas granted the highest locality pay adjustments that year.

Both sectors received lower raises in 2007, with private sector pay hikes outpacing federal increases. Washington's private sector employees received a 3.5 percent pay boost that year compared to a 2.4 percent raise for the region's government employees, said Angelo Kostopoulos, president of Akron Inc., which administered the survey and compiled the report.

Two years before that -- in 2005 -- the government gave higher raises than the private sector, with a median of 4.6 percent compared to the private sector's 3.7 percent, Kostopoulos said.

John Palguta, vice president of policy for the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, said breaking pay down by occupation would provide a more nuanced view of how the government stacks up to the private sector.

"When you do this occupation by occupation -- accountant to accountant, lawyer to lawyer, nurse to nurse -- it's a little more hit and miss," Palguta said. "You find pockets in hard to fill occupational areas where the government pay increase is still leaving government behind what it would need to compete solely on pay."

He also cautioned against placing too high a premium on annual pay increases. Potential federal employees focus on starting salaries, he said, "particularly at the entry level." He encouraged agencies to stress to possible recruits that government salary raises come in the form of general schedule advancements in addition to annual pay bumps.

"Some agencies lay it out very clearly for new recruits… and say 'We're not going to pay as much to start, but overall we'll take care of you and if you hang in there for three or four years you'll be on a level playing field in many occupational areas,' " Palguta said.