The cost of living in this country has continued to increase every year with little or no concurrent increase in the pay for Federal employees. This has meant that the overall value of each Federal employee's pay has decreased every year. This decrease has been even more pronounced in many of the metropolitan areas which have seen vast increases in population density and economic importance, like Austin, Texas.
The Federal Salary Council, an advisory body to the White House tasked with examining the effects of locality pay rates and recommending new ones, made a recommendation on 11/7/2014 for increases and alterations to the rates and definitions paid by the Federal government to employees in many of these areas. Adopting these recommendations would address these concerns.