Private employers' average real cost of total compensation (comprising wages and benefits) for current workers grew by 12 percent between 1991 and 2005. The real costs of benefits grew by close to 18 percent, while real wages grew by 10 percent. Wages and benefits increased by about the same percentage for most of the period until 2002, after which time real wages began to stagnate and real benef

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed a report comparing federal civilian pay and private-sector pay. GAO noted that: (1) in contrast to a number of other studies, the report concludes that federal civilian employees receive about 51 percent more in salaries, wages, and benefits over their careers than do private-sector employees and that a 33.7 percent wage reduction is needed to bri

GAO discussed the impact of the President's economic plan on federal employees. GAO noted that: (1) the government needs to attract and retain employees of high caliber to meet the challenges facing the government; (2) it has identified the importance of federal pay reform to attract and retain quality employees; (3) the President's proposals represent a reversal of positive steps taken to addres

GAO found that: (1) 72 percent of employed respondents were working for government contractors or grantees; (2) over half of the respondents employed by government contractors or grantees received higher pay after leaving DOE, and 60 percent of them reported that higher pay had a major effect on their decision to leave DOE; (3) although most employees peformed the same type of work, they had less

GAO found that surveyed federal agency personnel and line managers believed that: (1) low federal pay was the most important reason employees left or applicants declined federal employment, especially in geographic areas with high living costs; (2) the availability of nonfederal jobs was the second most important reason for leaving or declining federal employment; (3) federal job security was the

GAO discussed federal white-collar pay reform. GAO noted that: (1) federal salary comparability with the private sector has eroded because annual federal pay increases have lagged behind the private sector since 1978 and because of geographic variances in average salaries; (2) various federal agencies have suffered personnel retention and constituent service problems because of eroding pay compar

GAO discussed the issue of federal white-collar employee pay reform and the need for employee pay-setting principles and processes. GAO found that: (1) the salary comparability principle adopted in 1962 has been ineffective; (2) increases necessary to maintain comparability with rates paid by nonfederal employers have not been granted for many years; (3) national average nonfederal salary rates u

GAO found that the federal pay agent: (1) added occupations, including systems analyst and general clerk, and occupational levels to make the survey more representative; (2) expanded the 1986 survey to include smaller establishments with 50 employees, instead of limiting the survey to firms with 100 or more employees; (3) included only permanent, regular-rate employees, rather than all GS employe

GAO noted that an independent study found that: (1) as of 1984, federal employees' total compensation averaged 7.2 percent less than that for private sector employees; and (2) in 1985, the difference increased to 9 percent or more because the federal pay increase for 1985 was limited to less than the average pay increase in the private sector. GAO found that: (1) frequent presidential use of alte

Australia sets pay for virtually all of its 154,000 civil servants by collective bargaining. The only exceptions are for 30 top-level officials whose pay is fixed administratively. Benefits, including pensions and leave, are set legislatively by the Parliament which periodically adjusts pension annuities according to changes in the Australian consumer price index. Canada sets pay for its civil se