Military Pay Parity Fight to Recur

The Bush administration’s budget proposal meanwhile seeks raises for uniformed military personnel ranging from 2 percent to 6.25 percent. However, the 2 percent military figure would apply to only the lowest-ranked military members who are in those ranks for only a short time; for practical purposes virtually all uniformed personnel stand to receive a 3.7 percent raise. Counting the additional pay at upper end of the range-which would mostly go to mid-career uniformed personnel-the average military raise figure as a percentage of salary would work out to 4.1 percent. Employee-friendly members of Congress have succeeded in most recent years in getting the federal raise boosted to the military figure. The 3.7 figure likely will act as the marker for the “parity” amount for federal employees. Resolutions already have been offered in both the House and the Senate to maintain parity for 2004.