Cato Institute

Federal pay falls even further behind the private sector

Over the last year, federal sector wages fell 27.54% behind those in the private sector, a more than 3% jump in the pay gap since 2022.

Pay

FILE - In this Aug. 17, 2018, file photo, people arrive before the start of a naturalization ceremony at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Miami Field Office in Miami. USCIS, The cash-strapped federal agency that oversees that nation's legal immigration system, scrapped plans Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020, to furlough 13,000 employees, or nearly 70% of its workforce. The agency said it would maintain operations through September when the the fiscal year ends. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

Immigration forms are growing as fast as immigration

Agency Oversight

(AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

FILE- In this June 15, 2018, file photo, twenty dollar bills are counted in North Andover, Mass. Default on your federal student loans and the government can take up to 15 percent of each paycheck to satisfy your debt. The Education Department can also withhold federal benefits like tax returns and Social Security payments. Garnishment is an effective tool to recoup unpaid loans, private collection agencies enlisted by the Education Department took in over $841.6 million via wage garnishment in the 2018 fiscal year, but it inflicts serious financial strain on borrowers who are already struggling. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)

Calls to ban use of salary history reveal deeper issues in federal pay system

Workforce

(Getty Images/iStockphoto/AndreyPopov)

Advocacy groups raise concerns about federal pay system amid growing wage gap

Pay

The FDA’s gag rule on off-label treatments

Of Consuming Interest

AP/Evan Vucci

Postal Service will run out of cash by 2024 without congressional reform

Congress

More robust personnel oversight could be solution to Border Patrol termination problem

Management

How Sen. Lankford wants to resolve and prevent ‘Federal Fumbles’

Congress

Exclusive

Federal employees take issue with Cato’s public-private wage gap study

Pay

The truth about federal pay

Commentary

Latest study on federal compensation puts public, private pay gap at widest margin yet

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., left, talks to the committee's ranking member Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I. on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 11, 2017, during the committee's confirmation hearing for Navy Secretary nominee Richard Spencer. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

McCain, Reed float trial balloon for another BRAC round

The top two members of the Senate Armed Services Committee are floating a proposal that would finally allow another round of military base closures several…

DoD Reporter's Notebook

David Bier: DHS E-verify system needs a makeover

The Homeland Security Department’s E-Verify program is supposed to keep illegal aliens from taking jobs in the United States. But the identification system…

Federal Drive

FILE - In this Nov. 21, 2013 file photo reviewed by the U.S. military, dawn arrives at the now closed Camp X-Ray, which was used as the first detention facility for al-Qaida and Taliban militants who were captured after the Sept. 11 attacks at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. A former al-Qaida militant who gained fame with the publication of a diary about life at Guantanamo Bay has been approved for release from the detention center at the U.S. base in Cuba, the American Civil Liberties Union announced Wednesday, July 20, 2016. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

DoD tries to calm Congress over new BRAC request

BRAC

The Defense Department is looking to conduct another round of Base Realignment and Closure in 2021, but as usual, lawmakers are jumpy about losing military bases in their districts.