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Washington D.C. – Federal employees would receive an average 3.2 percent pay raise in 2022 under legislation introduced today and strongly endorsed by the National Treasury Employees Union.  

The Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act, sponsored in the House by Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, is essential to recruiting and retaining the skilled workers our government needs to confront the nation’s challenges on public health, the economy and security. 

The House bill consists of a 2.2 percent across-the-board increase and 1.0 percent for locality pay. Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii is expected to introduce the FAIR Act in the Senate.

“The FAIR Act is a recognition of how our federal workforce has never missed a beat during the pandemic -- either transitioning quickly to remote work or continuing to report to the worksite at great personal risk -- while maintaining productivity in a way that kept government operations humming,” said NTEU National President Tony Reardon. “An average 3.2 percent pay adjustment is essential in helping these middle-class workers keep pace with inflation and ever-increasing consumer costs, including health care.”  

Federal employees on average earned 23.11 percent less than their private sector counterparts this year, according to the most recent analysis from the Federal Salary Council. 

“Being a federal employee is about public service, not personal wealth, but federal employees deserve wages that pay the bills, send their kids to college, save for the future and help ensure they resist the temptation to leave for higher paychecks in the private sector,” Reardon said. “We commend the sponsors of the FAIR Act for their commitment to taking care of the frontline workers who take care of all of us.”  

Since 1990, the Federal Employee Pay Comparability Act has recognized the need to bring federal government salaries more in line with the private sector in order to compete for workers, and a 3.2 percent average increase in 2022 would help narrow the gap.  

NTEU represents employees in 33 federal agencies and offices.