The White House budget request released yesterday asked for a 4.6 percent 2023 pay raise for civilian federal employees. If implemented, this would be the largest pay increase for federal workers in 20 years.
The proposal is almost double the 2022 2.7% average pay raise federal employees. The budget proposal mentioned that uniformed military service members would also receive a 4.6% pay increase.
The budget proposal was not specific how the 4.6% increase would be divided into an overall average pay increase and locality pay.
- SEE ALSO: 2023 Federal Retiree COLA Watch
The White House budget proposal included this description regarding the 2023 federal employee pay raise:
Making Every Federal Job a Good Job, Where All Employees are Engaged, Supported, Heard, and Empowered.
Federal agencies must cultivate the passion of their employees and empower them to advance agency missions — and the Federal Government must be a model employer with respect to worker organizing, collective bargaining, and labor-management partnership.
The voices of Federal employees are critical to agency management, which is why the Administration is strengthening the annual Federal employee Viewpoint Survey and piloting a Government-wide pulse survey of Federal employees. These efforts will help agencies retain qualified employees, empower workers to make their agencies better, create a pipeline of qualified leaders, and provide better services to the public. The Budget supports these objectives by ensuring that all those in Federal jobs earn at least $15 per hour and providing a pay increase of 4.6 percent for civilian and military personnel.
The Budget also supports the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and agencies’ ability to answer the President’s call for agencies to lead by example in supporting worker organizing and collective bargaining.
The final 2023 federal pay raise figure won’t likely be released until December with pay tables from the Office of Personnel Management. Getting to that figure is usually a lengthy process involving Congress. Many federal employees are concerned about rising inflation, which could also influence the final number.