Gs Pay Scale 2022 Steps Explained – The OPM pay scale splits the pay scale into four categories, based on each team member’s status within the government. The following table shows what the overall schedule OPM uses to calculate its national team member’s pay scale, considering next year an anticipated 2.6 percent increase across the board. There are three broad categories within the federal gs level. Certain agencies do not fall into all three categories. For example both the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DOD) do not utilize the same categories system. Although they use identical General Schedule OPM uses to calculate their employees’ wages They have their own government gs level structuring.