UPDATE: 2025 Federal Pay Raise: White House Releases Alternative Pay Plan Letter
The 2025 White House budget released this week is proposing 2% federal pay raise for General Schedule (GS) employees. Any pay raise would be enacted in the first full pay period of January 2025.
A 2% pay increase would be the smallest adjustment in the last 3 years.
According to the proposal, “…[t]he Budget reflects an average pay increase of 2.0 percent for civilian employees. This increase builds on the average pay increases of 5.2 percent for 2024, 4.6 percent for 2023, and 2.7 percent for 2022. It illustrates the Administration’s continued strong commitment to the civil service, reflecting the need to attract the talent necessary to serve Americans and recognizing the fiscal constraints Federal agencies face.”
This proposal is only the first step of often a long process to determine the final pay adjustment for civilian federal employees. Congress has the opportunity to affect final adjustment. The pay raise tables are released by the Office of Personnel Management usually in early December.
A 2% federal pay raise is below what House and Senate Democrats proposed in the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act. The FAIR Act is asking for a 7.4% 2025 federal pay raise.
“Our nation’s dedicated civil servants deserve respect and fair compensation,” said Congressman Connolly, a co-sponsor of the FAIR Act. “Federal employees served the American people diligently during an unprecedented global pandemic. Before that, they were subjected to the Trump Administration’s cruel personal attacks, unsafe work environments, pay freezes, government shutdowns, sequestration cuts, furloughs, and mindless across-the-board hiring freezes. Still, they come to work each day ready to serve with dedication and distinction. Federal employees are our government’s single greatest asset. The FAIR Act is a critical step toward recognizing their contributions and providing fair and just compensation.”
“All across the country, frontline federal employees are hard at work, delivering services to taxpayers and honoring their oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution. Giving them an average 7.4 percent pay raise next year would be a welcome recognition of their commitment to public service and an important step to closing the wage gap between public and private sector salaries,” said NTEU National President Doreen Greenwald.
The full text of the 2025 White House proposed budget can be downloaded here.