United States President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Friday, placing a freeze on wages for federal workers in 2019. This cancels out a previously established plan to implement a 2.1% raise across the board.
The raise was originally set to activate in January of 2019, something that Trump spoke about rejecting back in August, citing budget concerns. This was prior to the current government shutdown in effect over the financing of a $5 billion border wall at the US Mexico border. Over the last week or so, hundreds of thousands of government workers have been on unpaid leave or working without pay.
It was noted that this will not affect the 2.6% pay increase scheduled for United States troops next year. That is part of a US Defense spending bill that had passed in August.
Trump assured the press that this decision would not affect the government’s ability to find qualified employees.
With the rate of inflation for 2018 resting at 2.9%, this raise wouldn’t have even kept up with our current economic state. The freeze will only hurt these employees further. Issues like this are why many preppers invest in non-money based goods, such as gold and non-perishable food items.