{
  "id": 5151710,
  "title": "‘Critical employees will begin to retire’: Trump’s new pay plan will deny most federal roles a raise, and it has workers warning of a retention crunch",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/02/critical-employees-will-begin-to-retire-trumps-new-pay-plan-will-deny",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-09-02T18:38:39.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Fortune",
    "slug": "fortune",
    "url": "https://fortune.com/2026/09/02/donald-trump-2027-budget-proposal-no-raises-federal-workers-doge-retention-air-traffic-control/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "President Donald Trump's proposed 2027 budget plan will withhold pay raises for most federal employees, sparking concerns about workforce retention and agency productivity. Exempt from the pay freeze are military personnel, who will receive between a 5% to 7% increase. Trump's decision stems from inflation concerns during the Biden administration, noting that inflation has risen from 3% to 3.4% since his January 2025 inauguration. He maintains that the freeze will uphold fiscal responsibility without harming recruitment and retention of qualified employees. Federal workforce retention has been an ongoing issue, with research indicating that permanent pay freezes between 2011 and 2013 decreased retention among Department of Defense civilian employees by 7.3%. Recent job cuts and 271,566 departures under Trump's administration have further emphasized the need for retaining employees. The nonprofit Partnership for Public Service warns that the deferred resignation program may have already harmed the workforce by replacing experienced professionals with less-qualified replacements. Federal employees and legislators have expressed alarm over the pay freeze, with unions predicting that the policy will lead to increased attrition and higher costs in hiring and training new staff. The Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS) union representing FAA employees at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) specifically fears that the pay freeze will slow recruitment, hamper modernization efforts, and result in a shortage of experienced professionals. While Congress may override the proposal through its appropriations legislation, the concerns raised by federal workers and unions cannot be ignored.",
  "summary": "“Such a large raise for Federal employees while most Americans still struggle with the consequences of the Biden Administration’s giant inflation spree is unacceptable,” Trump said.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}