New Personnel Chief Takes on Federal Government Salaries and Gender Gap
Beth Cobert, the new federal personnel chief, jumped right into the murky waters of federal government salaries and gender gap. Cobert addressed government leaders earlier this month regarding the basis for determining the salary of federal employees, in particular female employees.
Cobert told leaders she did not think the government should base a woman’s federal salary on what she made prior to becoming a new federal employee. Cobert proposed a policy that would help eliminate the discrepancy in pay between male and female federal employees. The policy would mean that a woman who made less for doing the same work comparable to a man (or a woman who had a lower salary because she was raising children) would be paid what the federal employment pays anyone qualified to take the position.
Last Year’s Study
Last year, the Office of Personnel Management released a study that showed female federal employees made 12.7 percent less than men in that same year. Cobert addressed the discrepancy saying:
“We found that some agencies require the use of a job candidate’s existing salary must be considered when setting pay of a new general schedule employee. Reliance on existing salary to set pay could potentially adversely affect a candidate who is returning to the workplace after… extended time off from his or her career…” according to the Washington Post.
Despite still being paid 12 percent less than men, on average, women are receiving much better federal government salaries when compared to 1992. During the 90s, the average woman earned 30 percent less than men in the same jobs did. By 2002, that discrepancy had dropped to 19.8 percent.
While these numbers appear promising, statistics show that women make up only 1/3 of the senior leaders on federal government salaries and the vast majority of higher paid workers in the technology, science and math fields are men.
Men’s Special Authority for Higher Starting Salaries
Additionally, the 2014 study released by the OPM showed that men received special authority to get higher starting salaries more often than women do. Cobert spoke out against current policies encouraging government leaders to consider more than a woman’s previous pay scale when determining federal benefits.
To encourage fair pay, Cobert suggested that agencies publicly post salary pay rates per system and that all federal agencies should be required to review how managers classify what a job pays.
According to WhiteHouse.Gov, women make up nearly half of the work force in the United States, and as family dynamics adjust, they are increasingly taking over the breadwinner position of the family. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 requires employers to follow the “equal pay for equal work” rule. The average woman, federal employee or not, makes only 77 percent of what a man in the same position makes. While the gender gap is significantly less for federal employees, Cobert believes there is still room for improvement.
In addition to changing the way pay is determined when a new female federal employee is hired, the government has taken recent steps to equalize pay further, including the Equal Pay Task Force that targets violators of the Equal Pay Act.
