The increased defense allocations in the budget proposal, which was presented this week, will, among other things, go to investments in the defense personnel to strengthen personnel supply and improve working conditions.
Seven kronor
For conscripts, the compensation has been 146 kronor per day since 2017. With an index adjustment, the compensation would be 193 kronor today, considering the inflation. Therefore, the government's proposal is insufficient, according to the Conscription Council, which represents Sweden's conscripts.
The government's proposal of 200 kronor means, in practice, an increase of seven kronor if you count the 32 percent inflation since the last adjustment in 2017. This is not what Sweden's conscripts stand behind, says the Conscription Council's chairman Alice Westlund.
This is not an increase based on a status increase or any benefit that the government wants to present it as, but rather an increase based on inflation.
Voted for 300
When the investigation "Ready! An investigation into the personnel supply of the military defense" was presented in July this year, the investigator's proposal for daily compensation for conscripts was 288 kronor. The Conscription Movement - the Conscription Congress and the conscripts - have voted for an increase to 300 kronor for several years.
The Conscription Council chose to be pragmatic and not argue over the 12 kronor that separate - but now the government is presenting a proposal that is far from it.
For officer aspirants, a increase in compensation from 175 to 240 kronor per day is proposed. The Conscription Council welcomes the increase but wonders why it is proportionally higher than the increase for conscripts.
It is because they want to recruit and because conscripted personnel is not valued as highly.
Stefan Morin, chairman of the Officers' Association, thinks it is good that the compensation for officer aspirants is increased and makes the education more attractive, but emphasizes that more must be done.
"Now it is up to the Defense Forces to follow up and make the employment after education attractive and competitive. In the ongoing collective bargaining, the Officers' Association has proposed over 50 measures. These are demands for salary and benefits that aim to give existing personnel a more fair compensation, as well as to increase the attractiveness of the profession. Unfortunately, nothing indicates that such a will exists within the Defense Forces," he writes in a comment to TT.
The daily allowance during basic training is 146 kronor per service day, which corresponds to approximately 4,380 kronor per month (tax-free).
During training, you also receive 90 kronor extra for food on days off (tax-free).
After completing the training, a training premium is paid out. This corresponds to the total amount of daily allowance. Someone who has done conscript service for nine months will receive daily allowance of 146 kronor for 275 days, a total of 40,150 kronor.
Source: The Defense Forces and the Conscription and Testing Authority
