Military Personnel: Reserve Component Servicemembers on Average Earn More Income While Activated

Book excerpt: This is a print on demand edition of a hard to find publication. As of Feb. 2009, approx. 691,000 reserve servicemembers have been activated in support of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, with many being called for multiple deployments or extended for more than one year. This increased use of the reserve component servicemembers has led to questions about whether reserve component servicemembers might be experiencing a decline in earnings as a result of extended and frequent activations. Studies determined that for calendar years 2004 and 2005, on avg., reserve component servicemembers earned more income while serving on active duty than they had earned as civilians before activation. Reserve component servicemembers had a net gain of $1,500/month in 2004 and 2005 after activation.