Imagine our cheery band of “thinkers” considering a labor shortage in the civilian economy as JUST PERHAPS a part of the equation.
Want soldiers? Pay ‘em.
It wasn’t our decision to raise the MW to 20.00/hr and then spend ourselves into 9% inflation.
GI Bill still pays for college, and these days that’s a lot of money, tax free. Two years active duty gets 80% of all tuition handled by Uncle Sam. That’s pretty damn good.
You can argue with the market or meet it. It’s a good time to be a job seeker and most workers retain the freedom to change jobs easily. What’s the minimum commitment required by the Armed Services?
2 years active and then some kind of reservist duty following, IIRC.
MS is a good deal, provided you aren’t being sent to a place like Iraq, Ukraine or Afghanistan to fight in some war for corrupt politicians and their defense contractor donor base.
The military has always been a jobs program to some degree. It can’t realistically be an at will employer though. So when the demand for workers is high it has trouble finding and retaining them.
Whining about “wokeness” is still just whining.
I don’t think I was ever whining about anything, but let’s assume the recent “wokeness” of the military is a flashpoint issue for some on the board here, or with a percentage of potential enrollees…
Do you have data points that suggest this recent cultural policy pivot has been a net positive for enrollment?
Are you telling me we’d be even worse off with military recruitment if we didn’t have transgender awareness week as part of basic training?
Or are you just saying that, given the current job market, a two year salaried commitment to active duty that gets the vast majority of your college tuition paid for just isn’t good enough for the kids these days, and we need to re-think what we comp our recruits.
Because while I’m willing to entertain a discussion on the latter, the former is fucking stupid.
There is a lot of bullshit people put up with in large employer organizations if the pay and benefits are right. The Armed Forces have to do more when people have perceived alternatives. They aren’t the only employers that offer pay and benefits.
A kid can go to work at Dicks and get some tuition assistance. He can also quit instantly in favor of a better job.
When the civilian opportunities are there, or perceived to be, military recruitment will struggle. When civilian opportunities are few, sitting through some lecture on inclusiveness just isn’t a big deal. You just sleep with your eyes open and wait it out.
And that’s not to ignore the fact that your civilian employer may also have some woke nonsense for you to pretend to care about.
You’re gonna tell me that Dick’s sporting goods offers a competitive salary compensation and college tuition program with the United States Military?
No two year commitment to work at Dicks. You’re still free to explore your civilian opportunities.
You girls were for low unemployment before you were against it.
Now you want to tell me that minimum wage + a 28k one time endowment is competitive with the US Military? 28k ain’t 80% of tuition unless we’re talking about community college.
If I’m 18, a two year run with the army before having my college essentially paid for sounds better than working at Dicks, even with the market freedom to go get a job at McDonald’s if I decide I don’t like re-stocking soccer cleats.
Oh wait it sounds like McDonald’s isn’t hiring right now…..
Also I’m not a girl, HH.
Unemployment is 3.6%. And you trannies can’t figure out why that affects military recruitment.
You wanted to have a serious conversation, but we’re one serious thinker short.
Right, woke bullshit has zero to do with it. That's why they can't find the physically and mentally qualified.
If you are no longer eligible to collect unemployment you are no longer unemployed
According to experts and scientists
U-3 is low. U-6 is low.
You're just making shit up.
Both of those metrics tend to paint a rosier picture of the labor market because they fail to include people who have dropped out of the labor market altogether. U-3 fails to even include those forced into part-time work.
Labor force participation rate is really the best indicator, but you already knew that.
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