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Murray Brewster
THE CANADIAN PRESS

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OTTAWA - Canada's top military commander has a message for job-seekers in tough economic times: We want you.

As a recession looms and jobs get scarce, the Canadian Forces is still hiring, said Gen. Walter Natynczyk.

Despite a flurry of recruiting ads and the spotlight on the Afghan war, the military missed its expansion goals last year even though it signed up thousands of new recruits.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Canadian Press, the chief of the defence staff said the problem is not recruiting, but rather attrition - or specifically the number of people who've reached the military's early retirement age.

Meeting the growth targets set out in the Conservative government's Canada First Defence Strategy is his greatest challenge, he said.

Natynczyk will be making a series of public addresses in the coming weeks and months highlighting the fact that the military is hiring as other employers are issuing pink slips.

"We are worth a look right now," he said.

The target for filling out the ranks with new recruits has not been a problem over the last few years. But since 2006, the attrition rate - the number of uniformed members opting to take early retirement, or not renew their contracts - has climbed to 9.2 per cent from the long-standing average of just over six per cent.

As a result, the overall size of Canada's thinly stretched military grew by only 650 people in the last fiscal year.

Natynczyk said the country isn't alone in this employment squeeze and that other military allies face attrition rates of 10 per cent or higher.

Like other sectors of the public service, the Canadian Forces is facing a demographic bubble that's perilously close to bursting with many members in skilled technical trades clocking out in their mid-40s after 25 years of service.

Natynczyk set the recruiting target for the regular force in the current year at 8,000 members, a figure he hopes, with attrition factored in, will provide a sizable net gain.

It is audacious considering that just four years ago the enrolment goal was only 3,670 full-time members.

The Conservative's defence strategy promises to grow the military to 70,000 regular members and 30,000 reservists, up from approximately 65,000 and 26,000.

But it has proven easier said than done.