Most Military Jobs Pay Less Than the Private Sector

Most Military Jobs Pay Less Than the Private SectorMost Military Jobs Pay Less Than the Private SectorMilitary pay rates have lagged behind private sector salaries for many years. Private sector employees often enjoy higher salaries than their peers in the armed forces, even if they have with the same level of education, degree of experience, and cost-of-living expenses due to location. The biggest disparities in public/private pay show up for highly educated people. Doctors, dentists, and those who have Ph.D. degrees in any field make significantly lower incomes than their civilian counterparts. In contrast, people with only a high school education can do considerably better in the military or in government tafelgeschirr than their private sector counterparts. History of the Big Pay Gap This pay gap has existed at least as far back as 1976, four years after the U.S. went to an all-volunteer military.It got worse between 1983 and 1998 when Congress capped military pay raises to b elow the average private sector increases in order to trim money from the Department of Defense budget. That policy drove the pay gap to a record 13.5 percentin 1998 and 1999. Congress reversedthat policy in fiscal year 2000. As a result, the average pay gap has gradually shrunk to a current 2.6 percent(as of 2018). Historical Pay Disparities The chart below shows military pay raises and average private sector raises annually from 1976. Note The figures shown for 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2007 for military pay raises are average percentages, as Congress in those years authorized different raises for various military pay grades. Historic Pay Raise Chart YearMilitary PayRaise PercentAverage PrivateSector Raise19765.09.019774.87.019787.16.819795.57.519807.07.8198111.79.1198214.39.119834.08.119844.05.619854.05.119863.04.419873.04.219882.03.519894.13.519903.64.419914.14.419924.24.219933.73.719942.22.719952.63.119962.42.919973.02.819982.83.319993.63.620006.24.320014.13.220026.94.12003 4.73.620044.23.120053.53.020063.12.620072.72.220083.53.020093.93.420103.93.020113.42.920121.62.820131.72.820141.02.920151.01.920161.32.320172.12.8 The annual rate increases of military and government pay are part of the federal budget. The increase isbased on the pay numbers in the private sector, as seen in theemployment cost indexcompiled by the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).