Research Catalog

Title

The federal civil service workforce : assessing the effects on retention of pay freezes, unpaid furloughs, and other federal employee compensation changes in the Department of Defense / Beth J. Asch, Michael G. Mattock, James Hosek.

Author

Asch, Beth J.

Publication

• Santa Monica, Calif. : Rand Corporation, [2014]
• ©2014

Supplementary Content

http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR500/RR514/RAND_RR514.pdf

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Mattock, Michael G., 1961-
• Hosek, James R.
• National Defense Research Institute (U.S.)
• Rand Corporation.

Description

xvii, 51 pages : color illustrations; 28 cm

Summary

Planners and policymakers must be able to assess how compensation policy, including pay freezes and unpaid furloughs, affects retention. This study begins to extend the dynamic retention model (DRM), a structural, stochastic, dynamic, discrete-choice model of individual behavior, to federal civil service employment. Models are developed and estimated, using 24 years of data, and then used to simulate the effects of pay freezes and unpaid furloughs. A permanent three-year pay freeze decreases the size of the retained General Service (GS) workforce with at least a baccalaureate degree by 7.3 percent in the steady state. A temporary pay freeze with pay immediately restored has virtually no impact on retention. When pay is restored after ten years, the retained GS workforce falls by 2.8 percent five years after the pay freeze and 3.5 percent ten years after it. An unpaid furlough, similar to the six-day federal furlough in 2013, has no discernible effect on retention. For all subgroups of GS employees for which the model is estimated, the model fit to the actual data is excellent, and all of the model parameter estimates are statistically significant. In future work, the DRM could be extended to provide empirically based simulations of the impact of other policies on retention; to estimate effects on other occupational areas, other pay systems, or specific demographic groups; or to create a "total force" model (military and civilian) of DoD retention dynamics and the effects of compensation on those dynamics.

Series Statement

RAND Corporation research report series ; RR-514-OSD

Uniform Title

Research report (Rand Corporation) ; RR-514-OSD.

Subjects

• United States > Department of Defense > Officials and employees > Salaries, etc
• Employee retention > United States

Note

• "Prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense."

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 49-51).

Contents

Introduction -- A Stochastic Dynamic Model of Retention for DoD Civil Service Employees -- Estimation Results -- Simulations of the Effects of Compensation Changes on Civil Service Retention -- Policy Implications and Areas for Future Research -- Appendix: Locality Adjustments in General Schedule Salaries.

Call Number

JFF 17-652

ISBN

• 0833086855
• 9780833086853

LCCN

2014952043

OCLC

890757390

Author

Asch, Beth J., author.

Title

The federal civil service workforce : assessing the effects on retention of pay freezes, unpaid furloughs, and other federal employee compensation changes in the Department of Defense / Beth J. Asch, Michael G. Mattock, James Hosek.

Publisher

Santa Monica, Calif. : Rand Corporation, [2014]

Copyright Date

©2014

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

RAND Corporation research report series ; RR-514-OSD

Research report (Rand Corporation) ; RR-514-OSD.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 49-51).

Connect to:

http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR500/RR514/RAND_RR514.pdf

Added Author

Mattock, Michael G., 1961- author.

Hosek, James R., author.

National Defense Research Institute (U.S.)

Rand Corporation.

Research Call Number

JFF 17-652