Federal Employee Pay 2024

[minzy]

Federal employees in 2024 will see the highest annual percentage increase (an average of 5.2%) in their pay in more than 40 years, finalized yesterday.
www.fedsmith.com/2023/12/21/biden-issues-executive-order-finalizing-2024-federal-pay-raise/

Tables per locality:
www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/2024/general-schedule

[pumpkin]

I’m so thankful for this since our insurance premiums are increasing by more than the pay increase, at 7% (which of course is in none of the articles I’ve seen).

[VillainV]

Military are also getting a 5.2% increase. It’s usually 1.5%, and I’ve seen as high as 3%, so 5.2% is awesome. It’s still not enough to make up for rising prices in cost of living, especially housing, but it’s much better than most of us were expecting.

[1yeartogo]

How does this work? Does everyone just get the new rate for the existing grade/step in January or do you wait until the next review cycle?

[minzy]

Dec 23, 2023 6:49:15 GMT -5 1yeartogo said:

How does this work? Does everyone just get the new rate for the existing grade/step in January or do you wait until the next review cycle?

The first one. It’s effective the first pay period of the year for everybody.

[turkletsmom]

Thank goodness. We haven't been able to boost DH's TSP in years so we plan to put 3% into that and use the other 2% to add to our budget. Perfect timing for some bills that are going up in Jan.

[ssmjlm]

Dec 23, 2023 5:05:36 GMT -5 pumpkin said:

I’m so thankful for this since our insurance premiums are increasing by more than the pay increase, at 7% (which of course is in none of the articles I’ve seen).

Seriously, they’re OOC for premiums and every copay is increasing by at least $5 per visit.

[pumpkin]

Dec 23, 2023 21:16:15 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

Dec 23, 2023 5:05:36 GMT -5 pumpkin said:

I’m so thankful for this since our insurance premiums are increasing by more than the pay increase, at 7% (which of course is in none of the articles I’ve seen).

Seriously, they’re OOC for premiums and every copay is increasing by at least $5 per visit.

Yep! The fact that there was basically notification to employees months ago that our benefit contributions were increasing by 7% necessitated these increases - especially since our pay doesn’t keep up in so many other ways.

[basilosaurus]

Dec 23, 2023 5:05:36 GMT -5 pumpkin said:

I’m so thankful for this since our insurance premiums are increasing by more than the pay increase, at 7% (which of course is in none of the articles I’ve seen).

So take home pay is still down? It is it still better to use fed insurance vs a partner's? My only fed experience is military so it has some differences

[ssmjlm]

Dec 24, 2023 20:01:35 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

Dec 23, 2023 5:05:36 GMT -5 pumpkin said:

I’m so thankful for this since our insurance premiums are increasing by more than the pay increase, at 7% (which of course is in none of the articles I’ve seen).

So take home pay is still down? It is it still better to use fed insurance vs a partner's? My only fed experience is military so it has some differences

Depends what they offer.

DH has one option for health, vision, and dental. The health and dental aren’t great and our dentist doesn’t even take the dental.

I have two existing conditions that make insurance tricky. I hate the cost, but the coverage is fantastic. I really pay just copays on like 95% on things. Also, I can carry insurance in retirement.

But govt pay hasn’t kept up with COL. And republicans don’t get it. So we never recovered from the Reagan era and Trump most recently was just as bad.

[pumpkin]

Dec 24, 2023 20:01:35 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

Dec 23, 2023 5:05:36 GMT -5 pumpkin said:

I’m so thankful for this since our insurance premiums are increasing by more than the pay increase, at 7% (which of course is in none of the articles I’ve seen).

So take home pay is still down? It is it still better to use fed insurance vs a partner's? My only fed experience is military so it has some differences

Being single I don’t have the option of a partner’s insurance. And while I do have good insurance as a Fed, the 7% increase is a lot.

And as ssmjlm said, our pay has not kept up with the cost of living. I also think many of the locality pay %s need to be re-evaluated too, but it is what it is.

[rubytue]

Dec 24, 2023 20:01:35 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

Dec 23, 2023 5:05:36 GMT -5 pumpkin said:

I’m so thankful for this since our insurance premiums are increasing by more than the pay increase, at 7% (which of course is in none of the articles I’ve seen).

So take home pay is still down? It is it still better to use fed insurance vs a partner's? My only fed experience is military so it has some differences

So, this is really going to depend on the other policy and wha your long term goal is.  The biggest perk of the fed insurance is carrying it into retirement, especially if you retire before Medicare age. Oh, but that’s years away, you say? Think through where you are really. Retirement age is 57 (unless you were born before 1973-ish, then it’s 56.5). To take the insurce into retirement, you have to carry it the previous 5 years. A voluntary early retirement offer can let you retire at 50. Think you are in a place or position where there is a chance of a VERA before you are 57 (say, maybe somewhere an admin change could be very bad)… you still need to have the 5 year’s continuous coverage. So, by 45, you should be considering the retirement implications. *sigh* fuck getting old.