The Federal Job Series 2500—Trades and Labor covers a lot of jobs that are part of the Federal Wage structure (FWS), which is different from the General Schedule (GS) pay structure. These jobs mostly entail skilled and unskilled physical labor, trades, and crafts that help keep federal buildings, equipment, and infrastructure running well.

There are jobs in this series that involve carpentry, plumbing, electrical work, painting, machining, driving a car, and cleaning. These jobs are very important for the day-to-day operation of federal buildings, military bases, national parks, and other government-run places. People in this series may be in charge of building, fixing, or keeping up physical structures and systems, running heavy machinery, or doing regular and specialized maintenance work.

FWS occupations are graded based on job grading standards that look at the skill and responsibility levels needed for the job. This is different from GS jobs, which are classed based on duties and responsibilities. These standards take into account things like the level of knowledge needed, the amount of physical exertion needed, the working environment, and the level of responsibility. The idea is to make sure that people doing the same kind of job in different federal agencies get paid the same amount, no matter where they are.

There are many job titles in the 2500 series, including:

• WG (Wage Grade): For jobs that don’t involve supervision and require hands-on effort.
• WL (Wage Leader): For workers who are in charge of a team but don’t have to do all the supervising.
• WS (Wage Supervisor): For jobs that include complete supervision of a group of workers.

These jobs are very important for keeping government operations safe, working well, and running smoothly. Trades and labor professionals are the backbone of the government infrastructure. They make sure that military bases have reliable power and plumbing and that national monuments are clean and easy to get to.