Presentation by Adebayo Adedeji and Heidi Golding, analysts in CBO's National Security Division, at the Annual Conference of the Western Economic Association International.
Since 2007, the default annual raise in military basic pay has equaled the rate of change in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ employment cost index (ECI) for wages and salaries of private-sector workers. How would a military-adjusted index—that is, one that adjusts for the characteristics of the military workforce—compare with that approach? And what would be the implications of applying the ECI to all regular cash pay—that is, basic pay and allowances for housing and food?
