Federal Government Policy and Business

Feds have major stake in Amazon HQ2 hunt

Federal News Radio: If Amazon picks their city as the cite of its new east-of-the-Mississippi HQ2 operation, federal workers will be big-time winners, too. The prospect of 50,000 new, many of them six-figure salary, jobs has all of the 20-candidate locations salivating.

More jobs, more taxes. A win-win for the chosen city, except maybe in rush hour.

Why would feds be winners, too? Feds in many cities — including most of the 20 on the Amazon HQ2 short list — already get locality pay. It is based on regular salary adjustments plus an extra amount based on the going rate for similar jobs in the private sector. Amazon’s presence would almost certainly guarantee larger locality adjustments each year, in addition to the regular January across-the-board pay raise.

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