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The Royal Navy (RN) is striving to achieve the right manpower mix through improved retention levels. This paper analyses the ratings’ exit patterns from the RN using a hazard regression framework. We hypothesise that similar to civilian workers, job transition decisions of the RN ratings are dependent upon alternative job availability and macroeconomic conditions. In addition, working conditions, gender and skill mix, family commitments and promotion prospects in the Navy influence their decisions to leave early. We estimate the unemployment elasticity for males to be −0.65 (female −0.51), which is high, compared to the elasticity reported for the US Navy. The civilian wage is positively related to exit probability from the RN. Overall, married ratings are less likely to exit as compared to their unmarried counterparts, but married female ratings are 88% more likely to leave early as compared to unmarried females in the Navy. Promotion to higher ranks reduces the probability of early exists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manning difficulties and retention of skilled personnel is a timely issue in the British armed forces, and especially in the all-volunteer Royal Navy. Allied with difficulties of matching personnel numbers and posts, significant skill mismatches can take a long time to eradicate, with obvious financial and operational penalties. In the light of these factors, a holistic understanding of the exit behaviour of naval personnel is vital for naval manpower planners. This paper analyses ratings' voluntary (quits) and involuntary (separation) exit patterns from the Royal Navy using an independent competing risks hazard regression analysis framework. The results show that both voluntary and involuntary exits are pro cyclical with respect to macroeconomic and labour market conditions for both male and female ratings. Male ratings are more likely to quit or separate due to a lack of promotion to higher ranks as compared with females. Male ratings are also more likely to quit as a result of a hectic operational tempo when compared with their female counterparts. Frequency of sea/shore deployments also seems to exert a significant effect with respect to quits and separation outcomes of both genders. In terms of marital status married males are less likely to quit compared with their unmarried male counterparts, whereas the opposite is the case for female ratings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retention is a crucial issue in the Armed Forces, especially in the all-volunteer Royal Navy. This is mainly due to a number of organisational challenges and changes in operational requirements and priorities. Naval manpower planners need to consider appropriate measures to improve retention in the service. The evidence gathered from the empirical investigation shows that external (pull) factors exert a significant effect on the early exit/quit rates from the RN. Key economic factors such as pay and employment opportunities in the civilian employment markets play an important role in the decisions that individual ratings make with regard to remaining in naval employment or leaving altogether. In particular, it was found that quit rates from the Navy are negatively associated with the claimant count (unemployment) rate (i.e. as the unemployment rate in the civilian economy increases, the early exit rate from the Navy decreases), whilst the overall increase in civilian wages bears a positive relationship on quitting behaviour. The analysis provides further evidence to support the need for policies that are tailor-made to cater for different ratings' specialisations within the Royal Navy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a methodology for estimating the economic impact of defence spending at a sub-regional level. It does so by calculating the income and employment generated by Britain’s Royal Navy and associated defence activities in the City of Portsmouth and its surrounding area, during the financial year 2003–2004. In an era of military consolidation, the paper offers an insight into the multifaceted impact of defence-related expenditure. Hence, it presents a generic framework that could prove useful to other researchers when seeking to measure the sub-regional impact of naval, airforce and army facilities in other national contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]