About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

34 Tax Foundation's Tax Review 1 (1973)

handle is hein.tera/tafoutaxt0037 and id is 1 raw text is: Tax Review January 1973 Vol. XXXIV, No. 1. Weighing Comparability in Federal Pay By Elmer B. Staats The spotlight today is intense on how to make the public sector in the nation's economy more produc- tive and more economical. An aspect of this sub- ject with which I have been involved and con- cerned for well over 20 years is this: how to main- tain fair and equitable compensation levels for Federal white-collar employees. During the past year, the national press has fre- quently expressed concern with the level of Federal compensation. The seriousness of this concern is underscored by the fact that the principle of com- parability is applied not only to the approximately 1,300,000 General Schedule employees of the Fed- eral government but also to the foreign service, certain other civilians, and the military services. In addition, Wage Board (blue-collar) wages long have been based on industry rates. Thus, the com- parability principle is now applied to approximately 4,400,000 employees of the Federal service with a current annual payroll of over $38 billion. Federal assistance programs to state and local governments this year will total more than $40 billion and now constitute approximately 22 percent of all state and local revenues. Thus we have a situation where Federal employees literally rub shoulders with a large segment of all employees in the nation. Obviously, differences in pay-setting methods and different pay rates are sensitive mat- ters and can have far-reaching effects on working relationships and the costs for salaries and wages throughout our entire economy. Early last year, the General Accounting Office (GAO) began a comprehensive review of the way the Federal government's pay-setting machinery is working. GAO has established a Federal Personnel and Compensation Division, one of whose perman- ent responsibilities will be conducting reviews of Federal pay and compensation matters for all cate- gories of Federal personnel-military, white-collar, and Wage Board. To assist us in these studies, we are drawing on the advice of a panel of outside experts with long experience in compensation mat- ters both in the private and public sectors. In the first phase of this work we are examining the process which has been developed to maintain pay comparability with the private sector for white- collar employees. We are particularly interested in learning how Federal jobs are selected for com- parison with the private sector, what comparisons are made with non-Federal organizations, and how the resulting data is used in adjusting the Federal salary scales. It would be difficult to find much in the way of guidelines, either in legislation or in Executive Branch policy statements, for the determination of overall compensation policy before the Federal Salary Reform Act of 1962. Cost-of-living increases were taken into account to some degree, recruiting difficulties also played a part, and minimum family budgets entered into the debates. -,,efce''l 'nd ,fe tieyp'sa's',Mr..Staits'; in th is'.Review -.To -attractsvch'rkershe. ,says ,the ' governrnent;must. beablW6 to' corn-' '-,pete Cl'Iii-,thie-i'employment mrk~et'%--on-4, fair- ~processes b hh pay le Is~r deter- .,mrhned are-examined.,to' mak~cerin,gover6-. mr Ien t _pay-. adju stmnents' match' ,,6d..do iot' exceed those. in 1'he-prlvate *sector.,' In hepng. Congress a -pprise.te Inds i n Fed eral-I pay, 'levels' arid A*ethbr7 basic' xchanges jin. methodoldgy, and pollcy.,shou1d be, consldered,, Mr:' Staats ,,oses seven 'qu.e- ries' on .comnparability! whci'esy shoud be, an e're. Copyright 1973 by Tax Foundation, Inc., 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10020, Judson 2-0880 1

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most