Could you use a few extra bucks in your 2015 paychecks to help with things like food, housing, fun and higher health insurance premiums?

The good news is that a pay raise is all but assured for a million white-collar federal workers. The less than good news is that it is the same 1 percent amount that feds got last January, after a three year pay freeze.

For some government workers, the raise will be less than $1 a day. For higher paid, higher grade employees it may work out to between $20 and $40 each pay period. Better than standing still or taking a pay cut. But just barely.

Retirees — federal, military and those getting Social Security benefits — don’t get pay raises because they aren’t working. Instead, they get regular cost of living adjustments (COLAs) designed to keep pace with inflation.

The 2015 pay raise of 1 percent called for by the President is less than the rate of inflation as measured by the government. With two months to go in the Consumer Price Index countdown, retirees are in line for a COLA of 1.8 percent. That’s down from the 1.9 percent indicated in July, but still higher than the proposed federal pay raise. If the CPI for August and September go up, the retiree COLA will rise. If if drops, they could receive less than the currently projected 1.8 percent.

While many federal workers feel singled out by politicians, they are not alone. The country is still recovering from what many are calling the Great Recession. Many nonfederal workers were laid off during the downturn. Companies eliminated pension plans and/or forced workers to take temporary but painful pay cuts. A lot of people who were unemployed are now back at work, but many are in different types of, and lower-paying, jobs.

The Washington Post’s Wonkblog recently reported that prices for food, clothing and housing have risen by 15 percent since 2007, but wages haven’t kept pace. For a median wage earner, it said, the $100 worth of groceries you could buy in 2007 costs $115 now. … “But you have only $112 in your pocket,” it said.

NEARLY USELESS FACTOID:

By Michael O’Connell

Although the Sergio Leone Film “For a Few Dollars More” was filmed in 1965, it wasn’t released in the United States until 1967.

Source: IMDB.

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