Employment – American Federation of Government Employees Local 704

Public-Private Sector Pay Gap Continues to Grow, But Not As Rapidly

By Eric Katz 5:19 PM ET

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The gap between federal and private-sector pay continued to widen in 2013, according to a new study. Typical federal employees now earn 35.4 percent less than their private sector peers, the Federal Salary Council reported.

The council, made up of union representatives and pay policy experts, used data from the Office of Personnel Management and the Bureau of Labor and Statistics to make its calculations. In 2012, the council found the gap expanded by more than 8 percentage points. This year, the pay gap grew by just 0.8 percentage points.

The pay disparities vary by locality. In the Washington, D.C., area, for example, private-sector workers make 49 percent more than their federal counterparts. Continue reading “Public-Private Sector Pay Gap Continues to Grow, But Not As Rapidly”

Feds’ Job and Pay Satisfaction Plunges in 2013 Survey

By Eric Katz; 5:38 PM ET

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Federal employees’ job satisfaction dropped nearly across the board in 2013, according to a new survey of the workforce.

In 53 categories measured in the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, the percentage of workers giving positive marks decreased, according to the Office of Personnel Management, which administers the survey annually. There were just two categories in which feds gave higher marks in 2013 than they did in 2012.

OPM asked about 781,000 employees to respond to the survey, less than half of the number they sent the survey to last year. The response rate, however, increased by 2 percent, with more than 375,000 respondents. OPM said 2012 was the only year it conducted a full census, and the 2013 numbers were more in line with its standard approach.

In most categories, a majority of feds gave positive feedback, though the trends have pointed down for several years. Job satisfaction dropped three points to 65 percent; pay satisfaction was down five points to 54 percent; organization satisfaction fell three points to 65 percent; and only 63 percent of respondents said they would recommend their organization, down from 67 percent last year. Continue reading “Feds’ Job and Pay Satisfaction Plunges in 2013 Survey”

Federal workers: How are you dealing with the sequester?

By Josh Hicks and Marcia Davis, Published: July 9, 2013 at 6:00 am

The federal government is more than halfway through its fiscal 2013 sequester, and the first round of automatic cuts, scheduled to last seven months, have reached a high-point.

Agencies have reduced rental assistance for thousands of rural, low-income residents, emergency unemployment benefits have been trimmed, and hundreds of thousands of federal workers are being furloughed — although some of the projected impacts haven’t materialized. Continue reading “Federal workers: How are you dealing with the sequester?”

Majority of Feds Don’t Believe Agencies Will Reward or Promote Them

By Kellie Lunney June 19, 2013

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Less than half of federal employees believe they will be rewarded or promoted for doing a good job, according to a new analysis.

Forty-three percent, or four out of every 10 federal workers, said they thought they would receive performance-based awards or better job opportunities at their agencies, the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service and consulting firm Deloitte found. The data gauging employees’ perceptions of awards and promotions, based on the Partnership’s 2012 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government, reveal that it has been the survey’s lowest-rated category since 2005. The 2012 score is 2.5 points lower than the 2011 score.

“The results are unsettling,” the report said.

The analysis was based on six questions from the Office of Personnel Management’s 2012 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. They related to employee perceptions of fairness in performance evaluations, rewards and recognition for good work, creativity and innovation, merit-based promotions and opportunities for employees to move up within an agency. Of those questions, respondents gave the highest marks to the quality of performance evaluations, with 67 percent of employees saying they believed their reviews were fair. Continue reading “Majority of Feds Don’t Believe Agencies Will Reward or Promote Them”

Federal workforce dips 20 percent since May 2010 peak

Jun. 10, 2013 – 01:52PM | By STEPHEN LOSEY |

The total federal workforce dropped by 14,000 employees in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said June 7, bringing the government’s staffing levels to its lowest point in more than five years.

May’s decline means federal payrolls — including U.S. Postal Service workers — have now dropped by 45,000 over the last three months. There are now 2,748,000 federal employees in the government — the lowest since February 2008, when there were 2,747,000 federal workers. The federal workforce has now fallen 20 percent since its peak in May 2010, when there were 3,415,000 employees. Continue reading “Federal workforce dips 20 percent since May 2010 peak”

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