The Nation - News from Oct. 20, 1986

The U.S. military buildup cost the nation more than 1.1 million jobs that would have been generated had the money been spent in the private sector, according to a new study entitled “The Empty Pork Barrel: The Employment Cost of the Military Buildup, 1981-1985.” Employment Research Associates, a nonprofit Lansing, Mich., economic consulting firm, found that the $190 billion spent by the Pentagon during President Reagan’s first term on military procurement and personnel, discounting inflation, generated 7,224,000 jobs. If that money had been spent on normal economic activities, the study said, it would have created 8,370,000 jobs.