§ 591.210 What are weights?

5 CFR 591.210(a)(a) A weight is the relative importance or share of a subpart of a group compared with the total for the group. A weight is frequently expressed as a percentage. For example, in a pie chart, each wedge has a percentage that represents its relative importance or the size of the wedge compared with the whole pie.

5 CFR 591.210(b)(b) OPM uses two kinds of weights: Consumer expenditure weights and employment weights.

5 CFR 591.210(b)(1)(1) Consumer expenditure weights. The consumer expenditure weight for a category of expenditures (e.g., Food) is the relative importance or share (often expressed as a percentage) of that category in terms of total consumer expenditures. OPM derives consumer expenditure weights from the tabulated results of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES).

5 CFR 591.210(b)(2)(2) Employment weights. The employment weight is the relative employment population of the survey area compared with the employment population of the COLA area as a whole. OPM uses the number of General Schedule employees in the survey area to compute employment weights. OPM uses these employment weights as described in § 591.216(b).