This article is based on an article in the Washington Post in February and a Heritage.org article in July.  The article in the Washington Post stated that the civilian federal employees and the military would receive a pay increase of 1.4 per cent in 2011.

The article at the Washington Post points out:

“That’s much lower than the 2 percent civilian pay jump this year and the military’s 3.4 percent increase. The proposed military pay bump is the smallest bump since 1973.”

At the same time, the article at Heritage.org points out that:

“The federal government pays its employees substantially more than they would earn in the private sector…(the federal government) pays hourly wages 22 percent above that of comparable private sector workers.”

For example, an average sergeant in the Army with four years and service and one dependent would receive $ 52,589 a year, including base pay, housing, subsistence allowances, and tax benefits.  A U. S. postal carrier makes approximately $80,000 a year, included his benefits.

Keep in mind that Congress has not yet passed a budget for the coming year.  The Democrats currently in power do not want to pass a budget until after the November elections–they don’t want to make the hard decisions that some of their supporters might not agree with.  It will be interesting to see how all of this all shakes out.