WASHINGTON — Some 43,000 federal workers in Hawaii, Alaska and the territories will see a bump in their retirement checks down the road as part of a measure signed into law yesterday by President Obama.

The provision, contained in the nearly $700 billion 2010 Defense Authorization Bill, changes the retirement pay structure of federal employees who do not work in the lower 48 states. Now their pension calculation will include the extra pay they received for working in high cost-of-living areas.

Before the change Obama signed, which U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, wrote into the authorization bill, federal workers outside the Mainland would not get the extra money once they retired.

The measure affects only those workers who retire after this year.