TheLoop21.com

By: Alyssa Giachino (Add to your loop)
Wed, 12/09/2009 - 12:37

New recruits being sworn in by the U.S. Army.

The astronomically high rates of joblessness among young Blacks have proved to be a boon for military enlistment.

The apparent distaste for the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts among Blacks has changed right along with the economy. After years of over-representation in the forces, Black enlistment had been dropping since we entered this post-9/11 world. But after the recession started, the trend has reversed.

The Department of Defense announced that all branches of the military had reached their recruitment targets in October for the first time since 1973. The Army even exceeded goals slightly.

African American enlistments for all branches of the military went up to 15.6 percent for 2009. That’s up from 13.6 percent in 2007, just as we headed into this recession.

The few good men and women the military wants are in the 17 to 24 age bracket. Remember what the unemployment rate is for Blacks in that age group? Almost 35 percent, or more than one out of every three young Blacks.

Military recruitment numbers since 2000 may put a mirror up to changing attitudes about the two wars and the economy.

Overall, Americans have been feeling fairly negative about our involvement on the two Middle East fronts. In November, a CBS poll showed that 59 percent of Americans thought things were going badly in Afghanistan. After President Obama delivered his speech on the troop surge, support for the war increased somewhat.

Aside from the month-to-month fluctuations in opinion, a longer-term look at the Army— the military’s largest branch— most dramatically reflects changing attitudes.

In 2000, Army enlistment for Blacks was 23 percent, significantly higher than their representation in the overall population, at 14 percent.

When we went into Afghanistan, the numbers changed. In 2002, recruitment had dropped to below 20 percent and continued sliding downward. It hit a low of 14.5 percent in 2005.

But, once the economy started to collapse, suddenly the military didn’t seem like such a lousy option anymore, and the recruitment numbers headed upward again. In 2008, Army enlistments for Blacks was up to 16.9 percent. And for this year, with crisis-level unemployment, Black recruitment is up again, at 17.7 percent.

Here’s the irony: Now it’s harder to get in.

It turns out the military is subject to the same ebb and flow dynamics of any employer. With so many people wanting to join, the military can afford to be choosy.

CNN reported that potential recruits are actually being turned away because there are so many qualified applicants. As a result, the recent crop of enlistees tend to be more educated, including some with graduate degrees.

Those without a High School Diploma or GED are now being turned away, as well as those who are overweight, have a minor criminal record or excessive parking tickets, according to CNN.

War sucks. But it appears that for Blacks being unemployed sucks much more.

Alyssa Giachino is an economics writer for TheLoop21.com. She has worked as a reporter in New York, New Jersey, Mexico City and California covering stories on labor, the environment, immigration and politics.

What will happen to the execs at Goldman Sachs?

They will be prosecuted, sent to jail

Absolutely nothing

They'll get a bonus

What did they do?

I don't know