Length of service
Length of service describes the time between joining the ADF and separation. In this report, length of service is presented in five groups (ranging from less than 1 year to more than 20 years).
The average length of service was just over 10 years with more than one quarter (28%) having between 1 and 5 years of service, while 1 in 5 (20%) had served over 20 years.
Overall, 14% of ex-serving members had served less than 1 year. The proportion was slightly higher for females at 18% compared with males (14%) who had served less than 1 year.
Females generally had a shorter length of service with 1 in 10 (10%) having served over 20 years compared with more than 2 in 10 (22%) of males.
The average length of service was higher for males than females (11 years and 7.8 years respectively).
|
Length of service (years)(a) |
Males |
Males |
Females |
Females |
Persons |
Person |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
< 1 |
29,821 |
13.6 |
7,210 |
17.5 |
37,031 |
14.2 |
|
1 – <5 |
59,020 |
26.9 |
13,230 |
32.1 |
72,250 |
27.7 |
|
5 – <10 |
40,400 |
18.4 |
8,772 |
21.3 |
49,172 |
18.9 |
|
10 – <20 |
41,252 |
18.8 |
7,743 |
18.8 |
48,995 |
18.8 |
|
20 or more |
47,802 |
21.8 |
4,066 |
9.9 |
51,868 |
19.9 |
|
Total ex-serving(b) |
219,411 |
100.0 |
41,213 |
100.0 |
260,624 |
100.0 |
|
Mean length of service (years) |
10.9 |
. . |
7.8 |
. . |
10.4 |
. . |
. . not applicable.
(a) The time between the date of hire and date of separation from the ADF.
(b) Sum of component items do not equal totals. For 1,116 ex-serving males and 192 ex-serving females, length of service was unable to be calculated due to not having a hire date for these records.
Source: AIHW analysis of linked Defence Historical Personnel data–PMKeyS–NDI data, 1985–2019.
As expected, as a person’s age increases so does the average length of service. Nearly half (47%) of members with over 20 years of service were aged 65 years and over. Older males (over the age of 55) have a longer average length of service than their female counterparts while younger males and females have a similar average length of service.
Figure 5: Average length of service for ex-serving members, as of 31 December 2019
Source: AIHW analysis of linked Defence Historical Personnel data–PMKeyS–NDI data 1985–2019.