Low unemployment empirically trades off with military recruitment
Niemietz '20 [Brian; 5/23/20; journalist for the New York Daily News; "The Army is planning a massive summer recruiting drive," https://taskandpurpose.com/news/army-recruiting-summer-unemployment]
Enlistment had reportedly been strong before the pandemic shutdown recruiting stations and forced the process onto the internet. The Army had signed up 2,200 more recruits by March 2020, matching the total for the same time frame in 2019. Recruiters now find themselves roughly 4,000 contracts short of their projected goal.
The nation’s soaring unemployment numbers could play to the advantage of the military, according to the Army Times, which says Army retention is about 15% higher than expected right now.
Muth feels the Army National Hiring Days event could be an indicator as to how much confidence young people have in the job market’s odds of bouncing back. Times of high unemployment reportedly make military service a more tempting option for some.“I think we’ll … have an indication by mid-July, beginning of August if things really start to change,” he said.