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LOS ANGELES, June 23 (Xinhua)– The United States has seen a record high of Asian Americans and people from other ethnic groups getting recruited in the army, according to a study published on Wednesday.

This can be attributed to rising unemployment rate in the country during recession and the increased bonuses provided by the U.S. government, said researchers at RAND Corp., a non-profit think tank.

In Los Angeles County last year, 22 percent of Army recruits were Asian-Americans, which is almost twice their proportion in the population. In the San Francisco Bay Area, the sign-up rate is also spiking. The proportion of newly enlisted soldiers who are Asian- Americans this year is nearly double that of last year, statistics show.

Usually Asian Americans were most unlikely to join the army and those who volunteered to join the army have the lowest rate of any ethnic groups. Asians make up 4 percent of the U.S. population, but only 1 percent of military recruits, statistics show.

For the first time that began to change. California sees a most remarkable increase of Army recruits. Similar increases have been reported from Seattle, New York and other cities.

One of the reasons behind the increase is that most Asian American parents want their children to \”go to college\”, and joining the army is one way to go to college since the U.S. Government will pay the four-year tuition for anyone who has served in the army and will go to college.

The U.S. Army has expanded its college program to pay for anyone to go to any college all across California like University of California Los Angeles, (UCLA), University of California Berkeley, California state universities. Since the government will pay for their four-year tuition so they can get a degree and then pursue their chosen field, that is very attractive.

According to Mark Howell, Chief, Advertising & Public Affairs at US Army, the U.S. Army is not necessarily strengthening its recruitment of Asian Americans but the reason for the event was to educate any misperceptions Asian Americans have about joining the military.

Howell said a lot of people, especially Asian Americans and the Asian Pacific Islander community think that once a person signs up they go to war. But that\’s not the case. The U.S. Army has over 150 jobs available in the medical field, high tech jobs like computers, a lot of different things they can do in the military.

According to the U.S. Census, there are less than 300,000 Asian Americans serving in the U.S. military. Targeting Asian Americans who want their children to receive better education, the U.S. Army provides an alternative path with the U.S. economy in deep recession and the higher tuition has caused a heavy burden for them.

Army officials said the US Army offers education, bonuses and trainings in over 150 job programs and career disciplines. It provides excellent benefits, including salary, health care, retirement pay, childcare, food and housing.