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Workforce Overview

Actual Staffing As At 30 June 2003

Enlistments and Recruitment

The ADF enlisted 5,338 permanent members, 4,462 men and 876 women, for the 12 months to 30 June 2003 as shown in Table 5.7. This was 1,245 less than that achieved in 2001-02. Conversely, 2002-03 showed a reduction in separation rates and has largely offset the lower number recruited. There were 5,107 separations from the ADF for the twelve months to 30 June 2003. This is 606 fewer than 2001-02 and indicates that the trend started during 2001-02 is continuing and provides the opportunity to grow more quickly towards White Paper workforce target.

A continued improvement in numbers in the Reserve component of the ADF is evident with a further increase from 21,001 during 2001-02 to 21,588 during 2002-03. The increase to 3,065 Reserve enlistments in 2002-03 was an improvement of 195 above the 2,870 recruited in 2001-02 and along, with slightly improved retention, has produced the overall increase in the Reserves.

The overall recruiting achievement against targets for the permanent and reserve forces for 2002-03 was 84 per cent, which was an improvement of 3 percentage points higher than achievement for 2001-02.

Table 5.7: ADF - Permanent Force Enlistments 2001-02 and 2002-03(1) | (2) | (3)
Navy Army Air Force(4) ADF
Men Women Men Women Men Women Men Women
2001-02
Trained Force
Officers 9 1 45 20 - - 54 21
Other Ranks 46 4 385 59 - - 431 63
Training Force
Officers 202 77 199 33 298 78 699 188
Other Ranks 1,065 332 2,196 161 1,178 195 4,439 688
Total 1,322 414 2,825 273 1,476 273 5,623 960
2002-03
Trained Force
Officers 14 2 167 28 - - 181 30
Other Ranks 65 10 256 58 - - 321 68
Training Force
Officers 134 43 287 51 247 65 668 159
Other Ranks 1,093 312 1,590 160 609 147 3,292 619
Total 1,306 367 2,300 297 856 212 4,462 876
Notes
  1. Figures in this table show actual staff. |
  2. Enlistments exclude Reserves commencing periods of full-time duty. |
  3. Figures include inter and intra-Service transfers processed by the Services and, therefore, do not correlate with the recruiting activity shown in Table 5.8. |
  4. All Air Force recruits are enlisted into the Training Force.
Table 5.8: ADF - Permanent Force Recruiting Activity 2001-02 and 2002-03
Navy Army Air Force ADF
2001-02
Total Inquiries 22,165 61,432 42,449 127,290(1)
Formal Applications 5,487 10,388 7,537 23,412
Applicants Enlisted 1,590 2,844 1,402 5,836
Target 1,863 2,830 1,614 6,307
Percentage Achieved 85 100 87 93
2002-03
Total Inquiries 14,780 41,952 28,414 85,312(2)
Formal Applications 4,560 7,185 5,897 17,642
Applicants Enlisted 1,556 1,842 924 4,322
Target 1,842 2,342 980 5,164
Percentage Achieved 84 79 94 84
Notes
  1. This figure includes 1,244 full-time Tri-Service inquiries that relate to inquirers who were undecided on which Service they wished to pursue full time. |
  2. This figure includes 166 full-time Tri-Service inquiries that relate to inquirers who were undecided on which Service they wished to pursue full time.

Chart 5.2: ADF - Permanent Force Recruiting Target versus Achievement 2001-02 and 2002-03

Bar chart representation of Target and Applicants Enlisted figures from table 5.8

Table 5.9: ADF - Reserve Force Recruiting activity 2001-02 and 2002-03
Navy Army Air Force ADF
2001-02
Total Inquiries 1,451 25,002 2,550 29,003
Formal Applications 265 6,836 478 7,579
Applicants Enlisted 42 2,712 116 2,870
Target 179 3,878 325 4,382
Percentage Achieved 23 70 36 65
2002-03
Total Inquiries 898 24,946 2,876 28,727(1)
Formal Applications 157 7,622 577 8,356
Applicants Enlisted 54 2,889 122 3,065
Target 160 3,129 316 3,605
Percentage Achieved 34 92 39 85
Notes
  1. This figure includes 7 part time tri-Service inquiries that relate to inquirers who were undecided on which Service they wished to join.

Chart 5.3: ADF - Reserve Force Recruiting Target versus Achievement 2001-02 and 2002-03

Bar chart representation of Target and Applicants Enlisted figures from table 5.9

Separations

Separation rates in the Permanent Force across all three Services fell in 2002-03 to a ten-year low. The Navy's was below 12 per cent, the Army's below 10 per cent and the Air Force's below 8 per cent. The reduced voluntary separations were partly offset by an increase in involuntary separations.

Table 5.10: ADF - Permanent Force Separations 2001-02 and 2002-03(1) | (2)
Voluntary Involuntary(3) Age Retirement Cadets and Trainees Total
2001-02
Navy Officers 160 9 0 41 210
Other Ranks 902 128 0 215 1,245
Army Officers 414 25 21 113 573
Other Ranks 1,479 365 20 442 2,306
Air Force Officers 238 8 25 44 315
Other Ranks 895 9 35 125 1,064
Total ADF Officers 812 42 46 198 1,098
Other Ranks 3,276 502 55 782 4,615
2002-2003
Navy Officers 176 17 5 41 239
Other Ranks 778 157 0 317 1,252
Army Officers 323 35 12 98 468
Other Ranks 1,190 428 9 412 2,039
Air Force Officers 209 10 1 35 255
Other Ranks 652 71 20 111 854
Total ADF Officers 708 62 18 174 962
Other Ranks 2,620 656 29 840 4,145
Notes
  1. Figures in this table show actual staff. |
  2. Non-effective personnel (personnel on maternity leave and leave without pay) and Reserves completing periods of full-time duty are not included. |
  3. 'Involuntary' primarily comprises members who were medically unfit or unsuitable for further training.