I don't know, but even if you live in a rural backwater of the Netherlands, you are in a large town within an hour and in about two hours you can be in Amsterdam or Utrecht. I don't think the army is needed to escape lack of job opportunities in the rural areas. Most of the young people from the rural areas study in the cities and often stay there.

Some universities (Enschede, Tilburg and Maastricht) were founded in regions were the economy was on its back because the textile or mining industry was closed. Other government agencies were sometimes transfered to the less-successful regions.