[napscoordinator]

Like everyone else who receives a big raise, 1 percent won’t even cover the medical insurance costs that rise yearly. Nothing really that exciting. I am glad to know that the civilian sector is getting back to giving fat raises again. I have a friend who works for Exxon and his raises normally are in the ten percent range with a fat bonus yearly. I don’t complain though and in fact happy for him because that is what he chose. Some people chose to work as a civil servant and not get caught up in the money which is fine too. Nobody makes big bucks in government unless they are in very high positions of power.

[djwright]

I think the government has made the pay issue intentionally complex to confuse the issue. there are step increases, colas, adjustments for where you live. So this would be 1% on top of that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Schedule_(US_civil_service_pay_scale)#Grade_and_Step_Structure

There is the 2010 scale on the wiki page. It would be interesting to see the 2012 table to compare what happened during the “freeze”.

[hinckley buzzard]

Be aware that federal employees make roughly twice what their equivalents make in the private sector. Not to mention the security of government employment, lavish benefits like at least ten paid holidays, paid sick leave , and extensive paid vacation.

I guess "big bucks" is all in how you define it. Maybe for union sucks, the UAW is better, but not by much these days.