Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed how job evaluation is conducted and used to set pay in selected nonfederal organizations in various states, including how job evaluation played a role in the comparable worth issue in several specific states and regions.
GAO found that: (1) each job evaluation system had some unique features, but each system used a point-factor evaluation methodology which involved job analysis, job evaluation, and pay adjustment; (2) many areas' systems were priority systems where factors believed relevant to the organization were specified in advance of the evaluation process; (3) the evaluation system in use in one area was a policy-capturing system where factors were analytically developed as part of the evaluation process to replicate the organization's existing pay system; and (4) in systems where external salary competitiveness was a goal, the organization collected information through wage surveys to determine what other organizations were paying for similar levels of work.
