A government salary must be competitive in order to keep valuable employees and recruit new staff. But what is a typical government salary? Government pay is generally based on the General Scale, or GS pay scale, which determines job and salary grades according to education level, experience level and location. Government salaries are evaluated each year, and most employees receive cost-of-living increases plus the opportunity to move up steps within a grade based on performance.
Before hiring new government employees, you should have an understanding of the GS scale and consider many factors including experience and job location. These tips will help:
1. Gain a solid understanding of the GS pay scale.
2. Search job boards for examples of current government salaries based on job description, location and experience level.
3. Consider benefits when evaluating a compensation package for government employees.
Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done
Understand the U.S. government pay scale
Government salaries really run the gamut due to several factors, including job type, experience level and location. Deciphering what a specific position is worth can be dizzying. Fortunately, there are a variety of salary tools for government employment available that are easy to use and typically provide current information on government pay.
I recommend: Download GS locality pay tables at the
U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
PayScale provides a federal government salary chart plus lets you search for salaries based on job title, location and experience level. CBSalary.com has a
Salary Calculator and a
Cost of Living Comparison tool to help you assess government pay.
Compare government salaries on government job boards
You can research all day long and find plenty of hypotheticals, but sometimes real-life examples provide the best information. Check your local newspaper's classified section or search online job boards to find average government salary information from real job postings. Keep a log of your results for a few weeks to see if a pattern emerges.
I recommend: Search for real-time government jobs and federal government pay at
USAJOBS, the official job site of the U.S. federal government.
GOVJOBS.COM allows you to search for government jobs, and government salaries, not only by keyword and location, but also by exempt, non-exempt, full-time and part-time criteria.
Offer top-notch benefits to complement government salaries
Government employees typically have better benefits than their counterparts in the private sector, and each government agency is able to determine its own benefits package. Come up with a competitive package in combination with fair government pay, and be sure to tout its merits to current and prospective staff members.
I recommend: Review the various
Federal Employees Health Benefit Program plans at the US Office of Personnel Management’s website.
Segal offers public sector consulting to various levels of government to help agencies plan, design and implement the best benefits plans possible for employees.
Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide
- If you're a small agency having a hard time matching the government salaries of larger agencies, offer more responsibility and room for growth to prospective employees. More impressive titles are another benefit.
The official source of Salary Tools for Government Employment is
the Salary Tools for Government Employment page at Business.com
Related Resources from Business.com
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