London:
The economic slump is prompting thousands of youths to join the British army, which has been struggling for years to win recruits, a news report said on Saturday.
The British army is expected to reach full strength in 2011 as recruitment rose by 14 per cent in the six months to March 31 compared with a year earlier.
The economic downturn, the worst since the end of the World war II, has led to drastic cut in the number of soldiers quitting the Armed Forces in 2008. With shrinking civilian jobs market, those leaving the army dropped by 8.3 per cent year on year, The Times newspaper said.
Despite a rising death toll in Afghanistan, the chance of deployment to the front line has failed to deter young people from joining the armed forces.
Hitting the full strength target of 101,790 soldiers will help to ease pressure on troops in the field, many of whom have endured multiple deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. There is currently a deficit of about 2,550.
According to the British report, an overhaul of recruiting techniques and a softening of public opinion towards the Armed Forces are also helping to boost numbers.
"All of a sudden in January all of these people started to come into the offices. We noticed about a 20-25 per cent increase over the same week the previous year. That was probably down to people not having the opportunities out there in the economy," Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Meldon, who heads recruitment in London, was quoted as saying by the London daily.