The sharp decline in the number of white recruits to the U.S. Army over the past five years sheds new light on the Army's ongoing recruiting crisis, reports Military.com and an internal Army review viewed by the outlet. Cited the data.
The Army missed its 2023 recruitment goal by 10,000 soldiers, falling short of its target of 65,000 soldiers as the Pentagon strengthened its prioritization of racial and ethnic diversity in its ranks. According to the data, much of that decline was due to a dramatic drop in the total number of white recruits, as the Army brought in about 20,000 fewer white soldiers in 2023 compared to 2018. It is said that there is. saw By Military.com.
“What we're seeing is a reflection of society. What we don't know much about is what's causing all of these things,” an Army official told Military.com. “There is no universally accepted cause.”
Other demographic groups also changed over the past five years, according to Military.com, but none changed as consistently over time as the white demographic. The biggest decline was from 2022 to 2023, when the service brought in 6% fewer white hires than the previous year. (Related article: Army's last-ditch effort to recruit new recruits fails despite extra benefits)
According to a report by Military.com, there were 44,042 new recruits in 2018, and 56.4% of the total were white. This number dropped to a low of 25,070 in 2023.
During the same period, black recruits increased from 20% to 24% of the total, and Hispanics increased from 17% to 24%, but the actual number of recruits from each demographic group was barely equal to the total number of Army recruits. It didn't change. According to Military.com, the amount brought in each year continues to decline.
The outlet said it had seen data that appeared to show another catastrophic decline in white recruits, but an Army spokesperson told Military.com that the data was inaccurate due to a coding error in the system. and provided the latest data included in the report.
According to Military.com, Army officials say that factors contributing to this decline include drug use, obesity, fewer white men in the labor market, and partisan attacks.The military is waking up and recruiting potential white recruits. Officials say there is a possibility that they could be forced out. .
The DEI portion of the Army's workforce strategy to call For adapting “accession, recruitment, and retention programs to address U.S. Census Bureau demographic projections and global trends to ensure the Army remains representative of the American people.”
But changes in white recruits far outpace the demographic changes currently occurring, Army officials and data experts told Military.com.
Military.com was unable to obtain recruiting data broken down by region, which could shed further light on which regions are struggling the most. Overall, the data showed that the proportion of male and female new hires remained unchanged overall, but at the same time did not provide a gender, racial, or ethnic breakdown.
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Some Army officials told Military.com that conservative lawmakers and the media's emphasis on the Army's commitment to diversity could be contributing to the problem.
“No, young volunteers are not interested in this,” one Army official told Military.com. “In parts of conservative America, there is a level of prestige that has degraded services.”
The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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