(Excerpted from The Book of U.S. Government Jobs by Dennis V. Damp)

Job security and excellent pay are among the top reasons most seek federal employment. There are eight predominant pay systems. Approximately half of the workforce is under the General Schedule (GS) pay scale, twenty percent are paid under the Postal Service rates, and about ten percent are paid under the Prevailing Rate Schedule (WG) Wage Grade classification. The remaining pay systems are for the Executive Schedule, Foreign Service, Nonappropriated Fund Instrumentalities pay scales, and Veterans Health Administration.

General Schedule (GS) pay varies from the GS-1 level at $13,362 per annum to $97,201 per annum at the top GS-15 grade. The Senior Executive Service tops out at $123,396 per annum. The president adjusts federal salaries to levels that are competitive with the private sector. The average annual salary for full time non-postal employees increased to $46,056 over the past year. Starting pay depends on the level of experience, education and complexity of the position applied for. A complete General Schedule (GS) pay schedule is printed in Chapter Two of The Book of U.S. Government Jobs by Dennis V. Damp.

Each GS grade has ten pay steps. Currently, a GS-9 starts at $31,195 for step one and reaches $40,555 per year at step ten (not including locality pay adjustments). At the GS-9 grade, each pay step adds $1,040.00 to the annual salary. Pay steps are earned based on time in service and the employee’s work performance. General Schedule employees are referred to as white collar workers under the federal classification system. Approximately 13.3 percent of total federal non-postal employment is classified under the Wage Grade (WG) blue collar pay schedules. See Appendix D of The Book of U.S. Government Jobs by Dennis V. Damp.

Vacation & Sick Leave

All employees receive: 10 paid holidays, 13 days of vacation for the first three years, twenty days of vacation with three to fifteen years service and after fifteen years twenty-six days. Additionally, 13 sick days are accrued each year regardless of length of service. Military time counts towards benefits. If you have 3 years of military service you begin with 4 weeks paid vacation and 3 years towards retirement.

Health Benefits & Life Insurance

Medical health plans and the Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance (FEGLI program are available to all employees. The medical plan is an employee-employer contribution system and includes HMO and Blue Cross and Blue Shield programs. There are hundreds of plans to choose from. The FEGLi program offers low cost term life insurance for the employee and basic coverage for the family. FEGLI offers up to five times the employees’ salary in death benefits.

For information on retirement and training and career development, see The Book of U.S. Government Jobs.

For more information on government pay and job benefits, click here.

Salaries & Wages

For a complete Schedule of Salaries and Wages, click here.