THE FEASIBILITY OF A GEOGRAPHIC PAY SUPPLEMENT FOR CONUS MILITARY PERSONNEL
Published Date: November 1, 1976
This report considers the feasibility and desirability of making adjustments to military pay to correct for regional variation in the cost of living in the Continental United States (CONUS). First, the adequacy of existing data bases for implementing a pay adjustment is assessed. Next, the feasibility of using cost-of-living indexes for specific items to correct for regional differences in overall living costs is explored. Then, 1975 housing expenditure data provided by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command is used to construct housing cost indexes for 118 CONUS military installations. Various ways of grouping CONUS installations for the purpose of implementing a variable housing allowance (VHA) are suggested and the costs of several alternative VHA plans are estimated. Finally, an evaluation of the arguments for and against a geographic pay adjustment is provided.
