| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 6, 1998 |
CONTACT: Mary Ann Maloney (202) 606-1800 mamalone@opm.gov |
Washington, D.C. -- The Presidents Pay Agent has determined that the National Compensation Survey (NCS) will not be used to make pay recommendations to the President regarding locality payments for federal employees in January 2000.
The Pay Agent will work with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in consultation with the Federal Salary Council, to ensure that surveys conducted under the NCS program will be suitable for making pay comparisons under the locality pay program.
The NCS program, which was developed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, incorporates a new approach to collecting non-federal salary information for locality pay and other purposes.
The Presidents Pay Agent is composed of the Secretary of Labor, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management. In a letter to Governor William J. Sheffield, Chairman, Federal Salary Council, the Pay Agent says:
We believe the NCS program has several advantages over the previous salary survey program, including being less costly, being less burdensome on respondents, and offering greater occupational coverage. However, after evaluating the test surveys and the first round of the pilot surveys, we have concluded that certain major aspects of the NCS program, including some of those raised by the Federal Salary Council, would have to be improved before we could use NCS data for making pay comparisons under the locality pay program.
In addition, the letter reaffirms the Clinton Administrations commitment to developing a credible alternative to the current annual pay adjustment process.
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