The good news is that it's the first pay increase since President Obama ordered a two-year pay freeze for federal workers. The bad news? That works out to an average of about $375 per employee. The Washington Post has learned that The White House is proposing a 0.5 percent pay increase for civilian federal employees when it unveils its budget next month. The Post politely uses the word "modest", but that might even be too kind. Federal workers made an average $75,296 in pay last year according to USA Today's calculations, which isn't far off from a New York Times article from 2010 which cited that federal civilian workers wages averaged near $81,000. Making our computer do sad math with USA Today's numbers, that's a raise of $376.48, or $31.37 a month.  The Post adds, "The proposed pay increase is well below the 3.6 percent cost of living adjustment that went into effect this week for Social Security and other benefits to keep pace with inflation." 

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Alexander Abad-Santos