The aim of this study is to investigate if civilian unemployment has an effect on reenlistment decision of recruits of Turkish Armed Forces in a seemingly unrelated bivariate probit framework. Empirical analysis indicates that former civilian unemployment significantly increases the likelihood of reenlistment. In addition to the socio-economic factors, family characteristics, sibling composition and birth order play an important role in career decision-making process of recruits. Furthermore, conscripts intending to join the Armed Forces appear to be occupationally oriented rather than institutionally oriented. As the residuals of reenlistment and unemployment equations are correlated, previous single equation models might be misspecified. Findings highlight the importance of civilian employment status, family characteristics, and education level of the conscripts in the determination of reenlistment decision. Moreover, empirical analysis should account for the interdependencies in the decision making process of individuals, since taking the correlation in the error structures of the equations impacts the parameters estimates.
Key words: Reenlistment, unemployment, occupational orientation, institutional orientation, Turkish Armed Forces. JEL Classification: J22, J23, J24. Article Language: EnglishTurkish
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