FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, January 21, 2022
Contact: Office of Communications
Tel: 202-594-6827
WASHINGTON, DC ・Today, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced that federal civilian employees in the U.S. will now be paid at least $15 per hour.
OPM issued a memorandum for heads of Executive departments and agencies that provides implementing guidance for how agencies should adjust pay rates for General Schedule (GS) and Federal Wage System (FWS) employees stationed in the U.S., and how to use administrative authority for other pay systems to lift the pay of federal employees who currently make less than $15 per hour. In total, these changes will impact 67,000 out of 2.2 million federal employees. The largest share of these workers, over 56,000 of them, currently work at the Department of Defense. OPM’s guidance directs agencies to implement these changes by January 30, 2022.
“As the largest employer in the country, how the federal government treats its workforce has real impact,” said Kiran Ahuja, Director of the Office of Personnel Management. “The Biden-Harris Administration believes that the federal workforce should be treated with dignity and respect. Raising pay rates across the federal government to a minimum of $15 per hour reflects our appreciation for the federal workforce and our values as a nation. We know that paying a living wage provides a myriad of benefits, from recruitment to retention to increased productivity, and more. It’s also the right thing to do. We should strive for every federal job to be a good job, and we want to ensure that every federal employee has a pathway to the middle class. Increasing pay rates to at least $15 per hour will keep the federal government competitive in the marketplace and is another way that we can serve as a model employer, setting a high bar for other sectors to follow.”
During his first week in office, President Biden signed an Executive Order on Protecting the Federal Workforce which directs the Director of OPM to provide a report to the President with recommendations to promote a $15 per hour minimum wage for federal employees. That report was submitted to the White House and today’s issued guidance reflects the report’s findings.
The Departments of Agriculture, Defense, and Veterans Affairs collectively employ most of the people who are currently paid below $15 per hour but the $15 minimum rate policy applies to all executive branch agencies (excluding the U.S. Postal Service and Postal Regulatory Commission which are legally outside the scope of OPM’s authority). Many of the employees who will benefit from this wage increase have been on the front lines throughout the pandemic, working resiliently to serve the American public.
Federal employees who will benefit from the Biden-Harris Administration’s $15 per hour minimum pay rate policy are found in every state in the country in a variety of occupations that are vital to delivering important services to the American taxpayer. Examples include -
“Whether they are on the front lines of our food industry, in the fight against climate change, protecting farms from invasive species or our communities from devastating wildfires, each of USDA’s employees deserve to be fairly compensated for their talents and for all the important work they do for our country,” said U.S Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “As we work to build a better America and make USDA a great place to work, it is important that our employees understand that we value their hard work to support our farmers, ranchers and producers, to fight food and nutrition insecurity, to combat climate change, and to deliver results for the American people. Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration’s leadership in advancing pay equity, approximately 2,000 USDA employees will see their pay increased.”
“Of the nearly 67,000 affected federal employees, 9,700 are from VA,” said U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough. “These employees include VA food service workers and housekeeping personnel. They are critical front-line employees, central to patient safety and improved outcomes for Veterans in the fight against the continued COVID-19 pandemic.”
“This pay increase is an important step for the civilian men and women who support the military community and their families,” said U.S. Department of Defense Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness, the Honorable Gilbert Cisneros. “It’s also well-deserved. And as the lead agency for administering the Federal Wage System, the Department of Defense will implement this change to benefit all federal agencies.”
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Fact Sheet: Number of federal employees who will receive raise to $15 per hour, by agency or department
*Notes about the data contained in this fact sheet
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE: 1,956
NATIONAL FOUNDATION ON THE ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES: 35
ARCHITECTURAL AND TRANSPORTATION BARRIERS COMPLIANCE BOARD: 1
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE: 177
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE: 86
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR: 1
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY: 3
DOD (AGGREGATE): 45,243
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION: 31
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY: 5
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: 251
ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HISTORIC PRESERVATION: 7
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: 61
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT: 6
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR: 344
CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE: 3
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: 1
NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION:======・13
OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT: 1
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: 2
DEPARTMENT OF STATE: 2
SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION: 7
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION: 242
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY: 1,227
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS: 9,707
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Fact Sheet: Approximate number of federal employees who will receive raise to $15 per hour, by state
*Notes about the data contained in this fact sheet
ALABAMA: 1,644
ALASKA: 669
ARIZONA: 1,296
ARKANSAS: 640
CALIFORNIA: 3,393
COLORADO: 1,089
CONNECTICUT: 146
DELAWARE: 216
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: 408
FLORIDA: 5,290
GEORGIA: 3,226
HAWAII: 2,820
IDAHO: 316
ILLINOIS: 845
INDIANA: 168
IOWA: 162
KANSAS: 863
KENTUCKY: 1,263
LOUISIANA: 1,123
MAINE: 90
MARYLAND: 1,123
MASSACHUSETTS: 185
MICHIGAN: 237
MINNESOTA: 155
MISSISSIPPI: 1,025
MISSOURI: 1,160
MONTANA: 202
NEBRASKA: 303
NEVADA: 618
NEW HAMPSHIRE: 45
NEW JERSEY: 424
NEW MEXICO: 1,018
NEW YORK: 729
NORTH CAROLINA: 3,322
NORTH DAKOTA: 327
OHIO: 729
OKLAHOMA: 1,260
OREGON: 111
PENNSYLVANIA: 513
RHODE ISLAND: 174
SOUTH CAROLINA: 1,725
SOUTH DAKOTA: 378
TENNESSEE: 1,173
TEXAS: 6,808
UTAH: 733
VERMONT: 26
VIRGINIA: 5,577
WASHINGTON: 978
WEST VIRGINIA: 209
WISCONSIN: 277
WYOMING: 228
AMERICAN SAMOA: 17
NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS: 2
GUAM: 971
PUERTO RICO: 908
VIRGIN ISLANDS:1
OPM leads and serves the federal government in enterprise human resources management by delivering policies and services to achieve a trusted, effective civilian workforce. By Empowering Excellence in Government through Great People, we provide leadership and support to U.S. agencies on issues including human resources policy and oversight, federal employee benefits, retirement services, guidance on labor-management relations, and programs to improve workforce performance. For more information, visit OPM.gov or follow OPM on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.