Pay raise: The good & bad news

I know three funny/sad good-news-bad-news jokes. They naturally, are edgy. They sort of smack you in the face. And they have a lesson which is harsh. Some of you would love them. Unfortunately, political correctness prevents me from sharing two of them. I can, however, tell you one them. It’s the latest bad-news-good-news.  It goes like this:

If you are a white collar (GS) federal worker with Defense, IRS, GSA, Interior, NASA and most other executive branch agencies, you will be getting a pay raise in January 2017. That’s the good news. The other part of the good news is that the 2017 hike will be the biggest you’ve had in a long time. Bad news: the raise isn’t all that big. In fact it’s the 1.6 percent recommended earlier, and announced on the Aug. 31 deadline, and it will be the biggest increase you’ve had in a long time.  In at least seven years.

White collar feds got 1.5  percent in 2010, but then nothing in 2011, 2012 and 2013, Uncle Sam’s mini-ice age. Last year they got 1 percent and this other 1 percent pay increase. Workers in some cities got slightly more thanks to locality pay. But not much more.

Federal retirees got a 5.8 percent cost-of-living adjustment in 2009, but they didn’t get any COLAs in 2010, 2011, or 2015. The retirees won’t know, until mid-October, how much their 2017 COLA will be. If there even is one. Check here for a COLA update. 

During the time period of zero-to-small pay raises, and the extreme diet COLAs,  health insurance premiums have gone up each year. Recently feds and retirees with federal long term care insurance policies learned that their premiums will be going up an average of 83 percent, with some people being hit with a 126 percent increase. Their choices are to downsize their plans (taking a lower benefit for a shorter time or changing their inflation protection), or to drop coverage. Or pay the money! You can find the latest on the  LTC premiums here.

Bottom line: Congratulations, sort of. Try not to spend it all in one place.

Nearly Useless Factoid

By David Thornton

The temperature that is same in both Fahrenheit and Celsius is -40 degrees.

Source: Online Conversion.com

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