Bill Clinton: “Federal Civilian Employee Pay Adjustments August 29, 1997 Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:) I am transmitting an…”

“Federal Civilian Employee Pay Adjustments August 29, 1997 Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:) I am transmitting an alternative plan for Federal civilian employee pay adjustments, to take effect in January 1998. Under title 5, United States Code, Federal civilian employees would receive a two-part pay raise in January 1998: (1) a 2.8 percent base salary raise linked to the part of the Employment Cost Index (ECI) that deals with changes in the wages and salaries of private industry workers; and (2) a locality pay raise, based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics' salary surveys of nonfederal employers in local pay areas, costing about 7.2 percent of payroll. Thus, on a cost-of-payroll basis, the total Federal employee pay increase would be about 10 percent in 1998. But, for each part of the two-part pay increase, title 5 gives me the authority to implement an alternative pay adjustment plan if I view the adjustment that would otherwise take effect as inappropriate due to ``national emergency or serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare.'' Over the past 20 years, Presidents have used this or similar authority for most annual Federal pay raises.…”