| Federal IT Workers to Get Raise | |
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Dateline: 11/08/00
Approximately 33,000 federal computer specialists and information technology (IT) employees will enjoy from 7 percent to 33 percent raises starting in January 2001.
According to a Nov. 3 press release from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the raises come in response to a growing demand from federal agencies to recruit more entry-level IT workers and improve employee retention.
The government's recruitment and retention difficulties have been more
pronounced at the lower grade levels of the General Schedule, the pay schedule
for white-collar employees. Surveys also indicate that the wage gap between
federal and non-federal IT workers is greatest at entry-level positions.
One key demographic that factored into the decision to increase federal IT
pay is the age bracket of current employees. In March 2000, 55 percent of
computer specialists, computer engineers and computer scientists were age 45 or
older, while only about 10 percent were under age 35. The increase in pay, OPM
believes, will encourage younger, critically-skilled employees to join the
federal government. In addition to the relief the IT pay increase will bring to staffing needs,
agencies may also use other incentives, such as recruitment bonuses and
retention allowances, to lure technology employees into government service or to
retain employees who have critical skills.
The pay increases will place IT workers on special salary schedules that are separate from those of white-collar employees in other federal jobs.
Approximately 35 percent of computer specialist jobs -- by far the most widely
held federal IT occupation - are located in the Washington-Baltimore area.
