Career Decision-Making of Youths and Young Adults in the U.S.
Challenge
Labor market disruptions have altered how U.S. youth decide on careers, including military enlistment.
The Foundational Science Research Unit of the U.S. Army Research Institute (ARI) is looking to understand the economic, social, and cultural factors that shape youth and young adult career choices. In particular, ARI seeks a detailed assessment of the factors associated with one’s propensity to enlist in the military, to understand why more young people are not joining the Army.
Solution
NORC will conduct qualitative interviews and national surveys.
NORC, in collaboration with ARI, will carry out an interdisciplinary, comprehensive, mixed-methods study to address research questions including who influences youth career plans, what youth and young adults think the future of work looks like, and what they are looking for in jobs and careers. We will collect data through:
- Qualitative interviews of teens and young adults
- Surveys of existing national panels of teens and young adults
- A large-scale nationally representative survey of young adults
Result
Findings will reveal the factors affecting youth career choices including military enlistment.
Our research will not only provide new insights into the factors affecting youth career choices, including whether to enlist in the military, but it will also lay the foundation for future applied work. Such research can potentially study changes in enlistment propensities and behavior over time and assess how variations in policies and marketing—such as enlistment incentives, training opportunities, and recruitment outreach efforts—affect enlistment behaviors.
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Project Leads
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Jeff Dominitz
Senior FellowCo-Principal Investigator -
Nida Corry
Principal Research ScientistCo-Principal Investigator -
Roxanne Wallace
Senior Research DirectorProject Director -
Benjamin M. Reist
Principal StatisticianSenior Staff -
Heather Sawyer
Senior Research DirectorSenior Staff
