A comparison of alternative measures of the qualified military available and interested recruit market

Abstract

This thesis compares two alternative measures of recruit market potential: Production-Weighted Qualified Military Available (PQMA) and High- Quality Qualified Military Available and Interested (HQ QMJ). The services rely on estimates of market potential to allocate recruiting resources efficiently and establish enlistment goals. Using 1990 accession data, regression and correlation analysis were used to determine the relationship between accessions and estimated market potential for both all services and Marine Corps accessions with the following results: (1) the relationship between actual accessions and the PQMA and HQ QMJ estimates of market potential differs by race/ethnic group, market size and region, (2) there are differences in the relationship between actual accessions and estimates of recruit market potential both for all services and Marine Corps accessions. (3) counties with significant variation between PQMA and HQ QMJ estimates of market potential were identified, and (4) 1990 PQMA and HQ QMJ estimates of market potential did not adequately account for differences in the qualification and propensity to enlist by region and socioeconomic status. Recommendations for further research in the area of recruit market potential include applying the methodology in this study to several years of accession data, applying the 1990 census population and socioeconomic information to the PQMA and HQ QMJ estimates of market potential, and examining the counties identified in this study having substantial variation in the measures of market...