I’m not even American, so treat this thought accordingly, but might the military recruitment numbers you’re seeing be influenced by race / ethnicity at all?
As in, if the bottom quintile has a lower-than-average proportion of white people in it (I guess this is the case in the USA), and if the military disproportionately recruits white people (I’ve no idea whether this is the case), maybe bottom-quintile white people could be over-represented, even while that quintile is a little under-represented.
I’m not even American, so treat this thought accordingly, but might the military recruitment numbers you’re seeing be influenced by race / ethnicity at all?
As in, if the bottom quintile has a lower-than-average proportion of white people in it (I guess this is the case in the USA), and if the military disproportionately recruits white people (I’ve no idea whether this is the case), maybe bottom-quintile white people could be over-represented, even while that quintile is a little under-represented.