Choose Your Parity Number

The “parity” figure itself might be a difficult number to pin down this year, however. The proposed military raise is a complicated one, combining a 2 percent across-the-board increase applying only to lowest-ranking members, with total raises ranging up to 6.25 percent for others. As a percentage of salary, the military raise would average 4.1 percent, and some parity backers have that figure in mind. Supporters of the administration approach likely will argue that parity already exists at the 2 percent level. The target figure most likely will be 3.7 percent, a figure arrived reached under an employment cost index-linked formula used for the military for the last several years; virtually all military members will get raises at least that large.