Evaluting Military Compensation

This book evaluates military compensation. To attract and retain the military personnel it needs, the Department of Defense (DOD) must offer a competitive compensation package - one that adequately rewards service members for the rigors of military life. After reenlistment rates declined in the late 1990's, lawmakers and the DOD began increasing cash and non-cash elements of military compensation. In 2000, for example, they authorised that basic pay for service members would rise 0.5 percentage points faster that wages in the civilian sector through 2006. Housing allowances and other compensation were also increased. This book looks at compensation for the 83 percent of active-duty U.S. service members who are enlisted personnel. It considers various ways to measure military compensation and examines common methods of, and problems with, comparing that compensation with pay and benefits in the civilian sector. The analysis also explores the connection between the components of military compensation and the military's recruiting and retention of personnel. It also discusses possible options to make the military compensation system visible to service members and decision-makers more efficient.