Grads Take a Pass on Military

Despite a threefold increase in advertising in recent years, efforts by the U.S. military to bolster its recruitment ranks are bearing little fruit, a study released Thursday found.

The desire by high school graduates to pursue college is thwarting the military’s ability to attract the youngsters it needs to grow--or even maintain--its ranks, according to the report by the National Research Council, a nonprofit think tank.

A high-flying economy through much of the 1990s may explain some of the lack of interest, the report said. But as the economy sputters and patriotism surges in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, there has been no corresponding uptick in military enlistment.

“Even with the instability in the economy and the loss of civilian jobs in many sectors in 2000-2001, interest in the military has not increased,” according to the report, which was commissioned by the Department of Defense. The number of Americans on active duty dwindled to 1.2 million in 2000, down from 1.7 million in 1990 and 2.3 million in 1964.

To counter this decline, the report--written by a panel of 15 experts in demography, military sociology and psychology--recommends that the Department of Defense find new ways to allow recruits to attend college while serving in the military. In the early 1970s, fewer than half of high school seniors went to college, but by 1999, 63% were enrolling in college the same year they graduated from high school, the report says.

“Delaying college is seen as less and less attractive,” said Paul R. Sackett, the panel chairman and a professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota.

An estimated 200,000 new recruits are needed each year to maintain the active force for all four branches of the military, according to the findings. To sustain that level, the military should concentrate on paying competitive wages, the report said.

“Research indicates that regular military compensation is less than what similarly qualified individuals with some college could earn in the civilian labor market and markedly less than the earnings of college graduates,” the report concludes.

Before enlisting in service, youths rate military pay as comparable to the corporate world. But once enlisted, just 16.5% of recruits say they are satisfied with their basic pay, compared to 59% of employees at Fortune 100 companies, the report found.

Those findings are particularly troublesome in light of the increase in the age of military personnel and the declining interest among high school males in joining the military. Between 1980 and 1997, the average age of active-duty personnel increased from 25 to 27. And the percentage of high school males who said they will “definitely” join the military declined from 12% in the mid-1980s to 8%.

Military officials and analysts say the number of people seeking to join the military appears largely unaffected by the terrorist attacks. The Army has met its goals of about 80,000 new recruits each of the last three years, but these targets are lower than in years past. Its 1983 goal was 145,000.