DATE March 27, 2003
FOR Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
For Release Upon Receipt
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U.S. PAYS UNDER $16K TO FIGHT WAR
NEW YORK -- Would you go to war for your country for less than $16,000 per year?
A new survey of military salaries by international outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., shows that troops in Iraq are doing just that.
The lowest salaries belong to those likely to be on the front lines in Iraq. For a private with one year in the service base pay is $15,480 per year or $1,290 per month. Even for a corporal, the fourth enlisted rank, with three years of service base pay is only $19,980 annually or $1,665 per month.
Shockingly, a family of three earning $15,260 -- just $220 under base pay for a private -- qualifies for help under government poverty guidelines.
Challenger researchers found only five occupations averaged less than $15,480 per year among the hundreds listed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in its table of 2002 earnings of full-time wage and salary workers. These included woodworkers, $7,488; butlers and housekeepers, $12,584; childcare workers and theater ushers tied at $14,144; and crossing guards, $15,080.
The Challenger military salary survey found that entry-level base salaries for commissioned officers, who hold the rank of second lieutenant, start at just over $26,200 annually or $2,184 per month.
Starting salaries for second lieutenants, according to the analysis of BLS earnings data, are equivalent to the average annual salaries for clothing store sales clerks, $26,780; receptionists,
$26,208; pest control workers, $26,208; shoe repairers, $26,364; and woodworking machine operators, $26,312.
Commissioned officers deft enough to climb the ranks may eventually break the $100,000 salary mark, but it will likely take more than 20 years.
General Tommy Franks, who was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1967 and now serves as commander in chief of United States Central Command overseeing the military action in Iraq, after 36 years earns an annual base pay of $153,948 or $12,829 per month.
In the business world, General Franks would be comparable to the chief executive officer in most respects, except salary, of course.
While annual compensation data are not yet available for 2002, a Standard & Poor's survey of 2001 compensation packages among the S&P 500's top executives found that average CEO compensation was $11 million. That was in a year when a slowing economy lowered bonuses and caused the value of stock options to decline dramatically.
In the sports world, professional baseball pitcher Randy Johnson, 39, just signed a two-year contract extension that will pay him $16.5 million per year, beginning in 2004, which will mark Johnson's 16th year in the majors. Johnson's annual salary is 107 times greater than that of General Franks.
Since joining the professional golf tour seven years ago, Tiger Woods has won $41,213,162, which does not include his earnings from sponsorships or winnings so far in 2003, among which was the recent Bay Hill Invitational for which he earned $810,000 for finishing first.
Even golfers finishing last on Sunday still fare better than most military personnel in the Gulf. Scott Hoch, by virtue of placing dead last at Bay Hill, went home with $8,190 for four days of work, more than one-half the annual salary of a private serving in Iraq.
"The disparity between military and private sector salaries is beyond unfair, considering that each day members of our armed forces are putting their lives on the line," said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.