Washington – To help recruit U.S. government civilians for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, the State Department has boosted the pay allowances for both hardship and danger to the highest levels ever granted, department officials said.
Starting this month, U.S. government civilians serving in Iraq and in Afghanistan outside of Kabul are receiving an extra 35 percent above their base salaries for hardship and another 35 percent for danger.
Previously, they were paid 25 percent extra for each category, limits the government set decades ago for any foreign post.
Because a number of other overseas posts had also been receiving the 25 percent maximums, government authorities were under pressure from Foreign Service representatives to adjust the allowance system and differentiate the most difficult assignments from the rest.
The new record-high rates underscore the especially poor security and stressful working conditions faced by U.S. government employees in Iraq and Afghanistan, even as the Bush administration continues to emphasize signs of progress there.
The pay increases were approved as part of a broader restructuring of rates that also lifted allowances for more than 20 other locations, mostly in Africa and central and southeastern Asia.
But most of these increases stopped at 30 percent. Only Iraq and Afghanistan ended up with 35 percent for both hardship and danger.
“The idea was to recognize service at our most difficult and dangerous posts, and foremost among those posts are Iraq and Afghanistan,” said a senior State Department official who asked to remain anonymous. “We know that the department has trouble recruiting people for these places.”
