Trump announces 2020 raise in fed, locality pay
- By Sherkiya Wedgeworth
- Sep 11, 2019
President Trump has announced that he will reverse the planned pay freeze for federal employees, and instead will implement a 2.6 percent governmentwide pay increase.
“I have determined that it is appropriate to exercise my authority to set alternative across-the-board and locality pay adjustments for 2019…,” Trump wrote in an Aug. 30 letter to the Speaker of the House, adding, “As noted in my Budget for Fiscal Year 2020, our pay system must reform to align with mission-critical recruitment and retention goals, and to reward employees whose performance provides value for the American people.”
The announcement is a complete turnaround from the 2020 budget released in March, which proposed an across-the-board pay freeze for civilian employees and a 3.1 percent increase for military personnel.
In the letter, Trump contends that current law dictates that a 2.6 percent across-the-board increase for the base General Schedule is set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2020, in addition to a 24 percent average increase in locality pay.
“In light of our nation’s fiscal situation, federal employee pay must be performance-based, and aligned strategically toward recruiting, retaining, and rewarding high-performing federal employees and those with critical skill sets,” he added.
Read the full announcement here.