Earnings, Unemployment, and the Supply of Enlisted Volunteers.

TLDR: In this paper, an attempt is made to measure the likely impact on new enlistments of raising military pay by estimating the extent to which regional enlistments have varied in relation to relative military to civilian earnings.

Abstract: If the draft is to be eliminated and an all-volunteer system substituted in its place, it is essential that the military be able to recruit additional personnel through higher pay. In this study an attempt is made to measure the likely impact on new enlistments of raising military pay by estimating the extent to which regional enlistments have varied in relation to relative military to civilian earnings. A cross-section supply model was estimated using actual with-draft enlistment experience and estimates of the enlistment rates that would have prevailed without a draft. The supply elasticities derived in the paper tend to support the conclusion that volunteers could be attracted to active duty by raising military pay, but that the larger the proportion of the eligible population in military service, the more expensive it would become to recruit additional manpower.