Lawmakers Want a 3.2% Pay Raise for Federal Employees in 2022

Two lawmakers are calling for a 3.2% pay raise for federal employees in 2022.

In what has become an annual tradition of sorts, two lawmakers are introducing legislation that would give federal employees a higher annual pay raise beyond what they might normally otherwise receive.

Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) have introduced the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act (H.R. 392) in their respective branches of Congress to give federal employees a 3.2% pay raise in 2022.

A press release about the bill explains the rationale behind the proposal of the 3.2% pay increase:

With the exception of 2020, Congress has failed for a decade to enact an increase to basic pay for federal employees that corresponds to the amount outlined by statute (5 U.S. Code § 5303). Meanwhile, during the last 10 years, federal employees have had to endure government shutdowns, pay freezes, hiring freezes, and lost pay as a result of sequestration-related furloughs. The FAIR Act’s wage adjustment restores years of lost wage increases for federal employees by ensuring that federal employees serving in all 50 States on behalf of constituents in every congressional district, earn an average pay increase of 3.2 percent.

Similar legislation has been introduced for the past several years. Last year, for example, the bill called for a 3.5% pay raise. Ultimately it did not pass, and federal employees ended up getting a 1% pay raise when the political process played out by the end of the year.

In 2020, the bill sought to provide a 3.6% pay raise to federal workers. Congress eventually passed a 2.6% across the board pay raise, however.

Could things be different this year with a new president and a new Congress? We shall see as the annual pay raise process goes through its usual twists and turns throughout the remainder of the year. FedSmith will of course keep our readers up to date with any new information on a pay raise as it occurs.

About the Author

Ian Smith is one of the co-founders of FedSmith.com. He has over 20 years of combined experience in media and government services, having worked at two government contracting firms and an online news and web development company prior to his current role at FedSmith.