Can government allowances and benefits(if you work for the government) have that much effect on your salary?

Question

Cost of Living Allowances, Recruitment and Retention Incentives, Quarters Allowances:,...can this effect ur salary that much like if ur making 50,000 and wil all these other allowances and benefits can u up ur salary a good amount or just a little?

Answer 1

I assume you are talking about a federal government job. In my experience auditing a US Federal entity the additional allowances and incentives can make a huge difference (like 20% of your final salary) in your total salary. I thought the quarters allowance would apply to a job that offered government run housing but if your opted out of the governement housing then you received the allowance toward whatever housing you choose.

Beware: many government jobs offer very little opportunity to increase your salary once you have started without moving to a whole new position. So whether you do a spectacular job ( ie find/kill bin laden and fix the budget) or do a satisfactory job you should not expect merit based raises or bonuses. This is what breeds the bored, depressed and hopeless government employee. And the annual or semiannual cost of living increases are usually very small maybe 1% and would probably not cover actual inflation in an area.

Answer 2

Unfortunately, those who work anywhere and receive "benefits" do not have any consideration that it is part of their income, "as well as tax free".
Employers have to consider the total cost of an employee, even though the employee does not.

Even matching SSI or payment of medical, are retirement and benefits to the employee, nothing but an expense to the employer.

I rarely see the government reward an outstanding employee for performance. Longevity, regardless of performance, is the criteria.