Prague, June 14 (CTK) – Czech career soldiers’ pay will rise by about 7 percent as of July, based on a directive the cabinet approved on Wednesday, its spokesman Martin Ayrer has tweeted.
At present, soldiers’ average gross monthly wage is 31,000 crowns, compared with the country’s average of 29,320 crowns at the end of 2016.
The Defence Ministry wanted soldiers’ wages to rise comparably with the rise of other security corps’ officers such as police, firefighters and customs officers, who will see a 10-percent pay increase.
The increase will cost the state 319 million crowns this year.
“The proposed increase in the base pay aims to motivate people to serve as career soldiers and thereby secure enough human resources [for the military] to fulfil its tasks in a medium-term perspective at least,” the Defence Ministry wrote in a document submitted to the cabinet.
The defence needs to recruit at least 2,000 newcomer soldiers a year to replace the leaving soldiers and fill vacancies.
In addition, the number of the country’s professional soldiers is to be raised by 5,000, according to the government’s plan.
The Defence Ministry says it has succeeded in meeting the recruitment plan but the number of applicants has evidently declined of late.
While the pay of police and firefighters will rise by 10 percent, the percentage rise in soldiers’ pay will be lower.
Nevertheless, the wages of all will rise by about the same sum. While a military warrant officer will see his monthly pay rise by 2,360 crowns, a police officer with the same rank will see it rise by 2,390 crowns. A major’s pay will increase by 3,290 crowns and 3,170 crowns in the military and the police, respectively.
The Czech military included a total of 23,184 career soldiers as of January 1, 2017, according to the ministry’s website.
