Locality Pay for Federal Employees
T-GGD-89-27: Published: Jun 26, 1989. Publicly Released: Jun 26, 1989.
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GAO discussed locality pay for federal employees. GAO found that: (1) although the federal government set federal pay rates to ensure that it would pay federal employees fairly, the uniform general schedule pay system did not equitably compensate employees doing the same work in different locations; (2) differences in private-sector pay rates for certain occupations across localities resulted in differences in the degree to which the federal government was competitive in local job markets; (3) cost-of-living-based locality pay would equalize employee purchasing power throughout the country and adjust pay for all federal white-collar employees in specified areas, while labor-market-based locality pay would keep the federal government competitive with other employers and provide pay adjustments for employees in occupations where federal pay was lower than in the private sector; (4) development of reliable measures of cost-of-living differences among localities created a problem in establishing a cost-of-living-based locality pay system; (5) the largest single determinant to a cost-of-living pay system was housing; and (6) because of wide variations in the average rates of pay for the same occupation in the private sector, the government could achieve locality pay through a slower increase in pay in the appropriate areas until establishment of proper pay differentials.
Jan 12, 2021
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DHS Employee Morale:
Some Improvements Made, but Additional Actions Needed to Strengthen Employee EngagementGAO-21-204: Published: Jan 12, 2021. Publicly Released: Jan 12, 2021.
Sep 16, 2020
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Senior Executive Service:
Opportunities for Selected Agencies to Improve Their Career Reassignment ProcessesGAO-20-559: Published: Sep 16, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 16, 2020.
Feb 25, 2020
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State Department:
Additional Steps Are Needed to Identify Potential Barriers to DiversityGAO-20-237: Published: Jan 27, 2020. Publicly Released: Feb 25, 2020.
Dec 30, 2019
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Office of Congressional Workplace Rights:
Using Key Management Practices Would Help to Fully Implement Statutory RequirementsGAO-20-222: Published: Dec 30, 2019. Publicly Released: Dec 30, 2019.
Oct 10, 2019
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Department of Veterans Affairs:
Improved Succession Planning Would Help Address Long-Standing Workforce ProblemsGAO-20-15: Published: Oct 10, 2019. Publicly Released: Oct 10, 2019.
Oct 2, 2019
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Defense Workforce:
Steps Needed to Identify Acquisition Training Needs for Non-Acquisition Personnel [Reissued with revisions on Oct. 2, 2019.]GAO-19-556: Published: Sep 5, 2019. Publicly Released: Sep 5, 2019.
Sep 25, 2019
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Federal Workforce:
Talent Management Strategies to Help Agencies Better Compete in a Tight Labor MarketGAO-19-723T: Published: Sep 25, 2019. Publicly Released: Sep 25, 2019.
Sep 11, 2019
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USAID Reform:
Efforts Address Most Key Practices but Could Improve in Performance Assessment and Strategic Workforce PlanningGAO-19-609: Published: Sep 11, 2019. Publicly Released: Sep 11, 2019.
Aug 15, 2019
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Defense Acquisition Workforce:
DOD Increased Use of Human Capital Flexibilities but Could Improve MonitoringGAO-19-509: Published: Aug 15, 2019. Publicly Released: Aug 15, 2019.
Jul 30, 2019
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Human Capital:
Improving Federal Recruiting and Hiring EffortsGAO-19-696T: Published: Jul 30, 2019. Publicly Released: Jul 30, 2019.
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