Department of the Air Force Civilian Compensation and Benefits: How Five Mission Critical and Hard-to-Fill Occupations Compare to the Private Sector and Key Federal Agencies

This report provides an overview of civilian compensation and benefits in the federal government and identifies the constraints the U.S. Air Force must operate under in comparison with alternative compensation and benefit structures found in federal agencies and the private sector for critical skills or hard-to-fill occupations. The report focuses on five occupational series identified by the Air Force as mission critical or hard to fill: Aircraft Operations (GS-2181), Air Traffic Control (GS-2152), Human Resources Management (GS-0201), Information Technology Management (Cyber) (GS-2210), and Aircraft Mechanic (WG-8852). For each occupational series, the report provides an overview of current Air Force compensation and how that compares with compensation in other federal agencies and the private sector, as well as highlighting key compensation-related recruiting and retention issues. The report then concludes by providing recommendations on actions the Air Force can take to improve the competitiveness of its compensation and benefits packages in order to better recruit and retain top-tier civilian talent. This report is intended primarily for policymakers responsible for civilian force management and compensation within the Air Force. The findings and recommendations may also be of interest to other military services, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. This research was sponsored by the Air Force Directorate of Civilian Force Management (AF/A1C) and was conducted within the Manpower, Personnel, and Training Program of RAND Project AIR FORCE as part of a fiscal year 2019 project, "Civilian Compensation and Benefits."