The Payment of Cost-of-Living Allowances
The U.S. Government pays a cost-of-living allowance to its American civilian employees at foreign locations where the post allowance index is 103 or above.
The post allowance is calculated by applying the index to each employee's spendable income. Spendable income is defined by the Department of State as that portion of base salary available to an employee for the purchase of food, household operations, home furnishings and equipment (including telephone), apparel, transportation (including auto operations and purchase), health care, entertainment, personal care items, reading material, education, alcohol, tobacco, and miscellaneous goods and services.
To avoid minor adjustments in allowance payments, post allowance indexes are grouped into ranges, and the percentages to be applied to spendable income are based on the approximate midpoints of each index range. The percents applied to spendable income used by the government are shown in the table below.
The following example illustrates the necessary steps to determine a cost-of-living allowance for a family of three with an annual salary of $62,500, at a location with a local index of 158 (Washington, D.C. = 100):
(1) Percent to be applied to spendable income is 60 percent shown below.
(2) Spendable income for a family of three at the $62,500 salary level is $30,400 shown on page 22.
(3) Annual cost-of-living allowance is 60 percent times $30,400 = $18,240.
The spendable income table used by the Department of State, as of October 8, 2000, is shown on page 22. This table was developed by the Department of State, using consumer expenditure data for all urban U.S. families from Bureau of Labor Statistics data for 1997-98, with detailed tabulations for income ranges up to $90,000 and above.
The spendable income table used by the Department of State, as of October 8, 2000, is shown above. This table was developed by the Department of State, using consumer expenditure data for all urban U.S. families from Bureau of Labor Statistics data for 1997-98, with detailed tabulations for income ranges up to $90,000 and above.
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