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Army Ups Enlisting Bonus to $50,000 to Make Up for Pandemic Recruitment

The U.S. labor shortage has hit the armed forces.

The U.S. Army is increasing the bonus that highly skilled enlisting soldiers will receive to $50,000, up from a previous maximum of $40,000. As the coronavirus pandemic continues to scramble hiring across industries, the armed forces are no exception. “We are still living the implications of 2020 and the onset of COVID, when the school systems basically shut down. We lost a full class of young men and women that we didn’t have contact with, face-to-face,” Maj. Gen. Kevin Vereen, head of Army Recruiting Command, told the Associated Press. Soldiers will need to enlist for six years to be eligible for the increased reward. Army recruitment often happens at in-person events held in schools, the kind of events that has been off-limits throughout the course of the pandemic. “We’re in a competitive market,” said Vereen. How we incentivize is absolutely essential.”