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The World War II Veteran Advantage? A Lifetime Cross-Sectional Study of Social Status Attainment
Abstract
The impact of military service on the status attainment of World War II veterans has been studied since the 1950s; however, the research has failed to come to any consensus with regard to their level of attainment. Analyses have focused on cross-sectional or longitudinal data without considering the effects of service over the life course. The authors argue that World War II veterans, regardless of race, have greater attainment, measured in terms of education, income, and occupational prestige, over their lifetimes than nonveterans. They use census data from the 1950 through 2000 Public Use Microdata Sample. The authors find that military service afforded white veterans significant advantages through their early and middle working years; however, their nonveteran peers eventually caught up. They also find that black veterans receive more of a social status advantage relative to black nonveterans, and military service helps to close the socioeconomic gap between blacks and whites.
... As a special experience in the life course, military service had a pervasive and profound impact on men's socioeconomic status and health outcomes (Angrist, 1990;Fredland & Little, 1985;Kleykamp, 2009;Smith et al., 2012;. While extensive literature assessed the health effects of military service in developed countries (e.g., Angrist et al., 2010;Bedard & Deschênes, 2006;Dobkin & Shabani, 2009;Johnston et al., 2016), few investigated the health status of elderly veterans in the context of developing countries. ...
... On the other hand, the advantages of veterans are also reflected in enjoying better social welfare and medical resources (Angrist, 1998;Davies et al., 2015;Oh & Berry, 2021;Waller & McGuire, 2011), having more competitive military skills (Johansen et al., 2014;Lindqvist & Vestman, 2011;MacLean, 2017), improving personal qualities and abilities (Angrist & Chen, 2011;Brown & Routon, 2016;Eynde, 2015;L. Wang et al., 2012), obtaining higher socioeconomic status (e.g., Angrist & Krueger, 1994;Bachman et al., 2000;Brown & Routon, 2016;MacLean & Kleykamp, 2021;Sheehan & Hayward, 2019;Smith et al., 2012), and accumulating political resources (Diamant, 2008;Hou et al., 2020;Wakenhut, 1979;Wu & Treiman, 2004). Hence superior external conditions seem to make veterans have better health outcomes. ...
... As mentioned earlier, there is controversy about the effect of military experience on earnings. Scholars found that military service during World War II boosted the income of U.S. veterans (e.g., Angrist & Krueger, 1994;De Tray, 1982;MacLean & Kleykamp, 2021;Smith et al., 2012), while Vietnam-era veterans earned less (e.g., Angrist, 1990;Spiro et al., 2016;Teachman & Call, 1996). Even so, most of prior studies affirmed the positive effects of military service on the earnings of some socially disadvantaged groups, such as minorities, rural people, and women (Angrist, 1998;Hou et al., 2020;Padavic & Prokos, 2017;Sheehan & Hayward, 2019), because military service tends to help them gain access to elite jobs and narrow gaps in human and social capital. ...
This article investigated the effects and mechanisms of military service on health outcomes of Chinese elderly men aged 60 and older. While numerous studies explored the effect of military service on health in developed countries, we still knew little about the relationship between military service and later health outcomes in developing countries such as China. Using the data of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, we found that military service is positively associated with better health outcomes of the elderly, in terms of physical health, cognitive abilities, and self-rated health. In addition, results of mechanism analysis show that, compared with nonveterans, elderly veterans had healthier habits, better education, higher individual and household income, and more favorable social medical security.Moreover, heterogeneity analysis indicates that this effect is more pronounced for older, rural, and spouseless elderly people. This article provided insights into elderly veterans’ health security measures in developing countries.
... As a result, veterans often have increased educational achievement, employment and related earned income, marital stability, and access to health care (Angrist, 1998;Elder, 1986;MacLean & Glen H. Elder, 2007;Sampson and Laub, 1996;Teachman, 2009;Teachman and Tedrow, 2004;Xie, 1992). Military personnel also gain valuable experience during service that can lead to greater self-efficacy, increased competence, discipline and job-related skills that are viewed favorably in the civilian employment sector (Elder, 1986;Sharp and Krasnesor, 1968). Due to this training, employers may give preference to hiring veterans based upon the perception that they can be productive in a bureaucratic structure (De Tray, 1982;Villemez and Kasarda, 1976;Xie, 1992). ...
... onveterans. Findings from these two studies lend credence to the argument that the socioeconomic benefits afforded to military veterans may have a more advantageous effect for black veterans than white veterans, especially during the years following military service (Xie, 1992), but also stretching across the life course (Fredland and Little, 1984;I. Smith et al., 2012;Teachman, 2007;Teachman and Tedrow, 2004). ...
Research on veteran versus nonveteran mortality outcomes provides contrary results, with some studies reporting a veteran mortality advantage while others report a veteran mortality disadvantage. Life course scholars suggest these conflicting results may be explained by a crossover in the veteran-nonveteran mortality differential, with veterans having a mortality advantage during early and midlife and a mortality disadvantage during older age. We conducted discrete time hazard analysis of a veteran-nonveteran mortality crossover among black and white men in the United States by birth cohort using data from the 1986-2009(2011) National Health Interview Survey-Linked Mortality Files. Among men who turned age 18 during non-war eras, veterans had an early to midlife mortality advantage and later life mortality disadvantage, with differences more pronounced among black men. However, differences between veteran and nonveteran mortality risk were not significant among the majority of men who turned age 18 during war eras. Findings clarify that the mortality related benefits of military service may only apply to veterans who came of age during non-war eras. Furthermore, results suggest that military service may provide a greater mortality benefit to black veterans than white veterans.
... Things were markedly different after the Second World War, when governments devoted much more attention to the development of a demobilization and rehabilitation policy, such as in the Veterans Charter in Canada (Richard 2012), and the Servicemen's Readjustment Act in the United States better known as the GI Bill (Stouffer et al. 1949). Such efforts have led scholars to point toward a veteran advantage, whereby former combatants gain greater social status in their communities (Smith, Marsh, and Segal 2012). ...
We use a large quota-sampled online survey and data on Facebook connections among survey respondents in six successor states of former Yugoslavia to demonstrate that, even more than two decades after the violence had ended, online social connections in this region are substantially related to people’s war experiences of combat, victimhood, and forced migration, as well as to their views of the wars’ causes, conduct, and consequences. What is particularly important, the sizes of the effects of these war-related factors on respondents’ online social networks are substantively large and comparable to those of gender, ethnicity, education, or political ideology. Our findings are an important contribution to the understanding of the deeply pervasive and long-lasting effects of wars on societies. They also highlight the enduring relevance of wartime violence in postwar social networks that is likely to affect efforts at enduring conflict resolution and reconciliation.
... While they report evidence of a positive selection of black men, they also report evidence of a negative selection of less-advantaged white men. Bound and Turner (2002) and Smith et al. (2012) show that World War II veterans have educational advantages (and social status gains) relative to non-veterans. Teachman and Call (1996) show that for the All Volunteer Forces, African-American men received less education and that less-advantaged white men benefitted. ...
This cumulative dissertation is divided into four self-contained articles, each analyzing important decisions during the life course. Rational behavior is the theoretical framework for each article. Starting with childhood, the first investigates the decision among various secondary school tracks following elementary school. The second examines the decisions after secondary school related to transitions from secondary track into apprenticeship training and from apprenticeship training into the labor market. The third investigates the consequences of a decision in early adulthood and analyzes wage differences for men based on the type of compulsory military service. The fourth considers lifelong learning and analyzes working hours and gender-specific training participation.
... This is perhaps due to the younger age of baby boomers, who are only recently beginning to enter retirement age and later-life. Military service has been shown to have an indirect and positive effect on health through socioeconomic status (SES) and longer marriages-with veterans of WWII having higher SES than nonveterans (Alder et al. 1994;Elder et al. 1991;Sampson and Laub 1996;Smith, Marsh, and Segal 2012). However, despite better health and SES for WWII and Korean veterans in general, the subset of those veterans who saw combat tend to have poorer health in general, and poorer mental health in particular, suggesting that many struggle adapting to home life after being exposed to combat (Elder, Shanahan, and Clip 1997) and that difficulties adjusting to post-war life affect their well-being then and in later-life (Lee, Vaillant, and Elder 1995). ...
The sheer size of the baby boomer cohort has prompted a great deal of research on life outcomes and potential social strain or benefit of such a large cohort. A major contingency for the baby boomers was the experience of the Vietnam War. Many young men had their life course trajectories interrupted when they were drafted to military service or enrolled in college in an effort to evade the draft. This study uses the Life Family Legacies data to investigate how the Vietnam War may have affected later-life health outcomes of this cohort. Comparing physical health as captured by activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), this study found that baby boomer veterans' outcomes are similar to those of their nonveteran peers. When comparing mental health outcomes by prevalence of PTSD, findings show that those veterans who served in combat or combat support units are much more likely to show persistent signs of PTSD. Findings from this study suggest that the effects of combat are a crucial distinction when comparing outcomes between veterans and nonveterans.
The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) played a critical role in the lives of many Union veterans after the Civil War. Its efforts were supported by its women’s auxiliary, the Woman’s Relief Corps (WRC). Yet scholars do not know much about the evolution of the relationship between the rising WRC and the slowly declining GAR, whose members were dying away in the early 20th century. Here, we evaluate state-level membership and local group data for both associations to determine the nature of their connection from 1884 to 1924. The evidence reveals that the WRC’s auxiliary role helped sustain the GAR while providing an organizational structure that allowed women to chart an independent course.
Scholars have long examined how generations or, more technically, cohorts produce social change. According to theory, people’s lives are shaped by the years in which they were born because they experience, along with their peers, particular historical events at the same points in the life course. Despite the importance of history, however, many scholars have evaluated cohorts not defined by clear start and end dates, but rather by arbitrary cut points, such as five-year intervals. In contrast, this article uses defined changes in military service in the United States stemming from shifts between war and peace, and from draft to volunteer service to assess how cohorts have contributed to change in socioeconomic attainment. It uses the Current Population Survey from 1971 to 2017, which has not previously been used to evaluate how veteran status may have produced shifting outcomes across cohorts. It finds evidence that cohorts had different average income overall and between groups, with veterans earning more money than nonveterans who were eligible to serve during the draft era before the Vietnam War. These gaps are partially explained by racial and educational differences. The findings provide a model for analyses of changes in the relative status of other groups, as well as information about how the role of military service in social mobility changed historically.
Many previous researchers have evaluated how the socioeconomic trajectories of American men were shaped by military service across different eras. However, few have explored how these pathways may have varied in other geographic contexts, assessing the lives of veterans of other countries. This article applies theories derived from the American case to evaluate the socioeconomic progress of veterans across four decades in France. It uses data from the Formation, Qualification Professionnelle (FQP) surveys of 1977 and 1985, which include information provided by men who were eligible to serve during the historical period stretching from World War II through the late-1970s, a period during which the French armed forces were involved in wars in both Indochina and Algeria. In brief, the findings show that these men enlisted in the armed forces on the basis both of family background and of educational attainment in consistent fashion across the four decades. Veterans appear to have worked in slightly different occupations from non-veterans, though this variation stems partly from measured pre-service differences between the two types of men.
Background:
Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is committed to providing high-quality care and addressing health disparities for vulnerable Veterans. To meet these goals, VA policymakers need guidance on how to address social determinants in operations planning and day-to-day clinical care for Veterans.
Method:
MEDLINE (OVID), CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Sociological Abstracts were searched from inception to January 2017. Additional articles were suggested by peer reviewers and/or found through search of work associated with US and VA cohorts. Eligible articles compared Veterans vs non-Veterans, and/or Veterans engaged with those not engaged in VA healthcare. Our evidence maps summarized study characteristics, social determinant(s) addressed, and whether health behaviors, health services utilization, and/or health outcomes were examined. Qualitative syntheses and quality assessment were performed for articles on rurality, trauma exposure, and sexual orientation.
Results:
We screened 7242 citations and found 131 eligible articles-99 compared Veterans vs non-Veterans, and 40 included engaged vs non-engaged Veterans. Most articles were cross-sectional and addressed socioeconomic factors (e.g., education and income). Fewer articles addressed rurality (N = 20), trauma exposure (N = 17), or sexual orientation (N = 2); none examined gender identity. We found no differences in rural residence between Veterans and non-Veterans, nor between engaged and non-engaged Veterans (moderate strength evidence). There was insufficient evidence for role of rurality in health behaviors, health services utilization, or health outcomes. Trauma exposures, including from events preceding military service, were more prevalent for Veterans vs non-Veterans and for engaged vs non-engaged Veterans (low-strength evidence); exposures were associated with smoking (low-strength evidence).
Discussion:
Little published literature exists on some emerging social determinants. We found no differences in rural residence between our groups of interest, but trauma exposure was higher in Veterans (vs non-Veterans) and engaged (vs non-engaged). We recommend consistent measures for social determinants, clear conceptual frameworks, and analytic strategies that account for the complex relationships between social determinants and health.
This chapter compares major developments in military sociology in the United States and Europe. Military sociology has enjoyed a stronger position within the discipline of sociology in the United States than Europe, although distrust between academics and military officers have hampered the development in both regions. The nature of the military profession has been a founding debate within military sociology, and there has been substantial variation across nations. The end of conscription focused political and academic attention to these issues. The U.S. experience with an all-volunteer force prefigured several European developments. The end of the Cold War precipitated major strategic refocusing and military reorganization, conceptualized as the postmodern military. Eastern Europe has undergone even more dramatic transformations in the past 20 years, where the collapse of Communism produced fundamental changes in the relationships between military, state, and society.
This study compares migration patterns during four decades and profiles the demographic characteristics of veteran and nonveteran migrants ages 60 and older in 1990. A substantial increase in veteran migration was expected when World War II veterans retired. With minor exceptions, the top 10 destinations for veterans in the past two censuses are states in the Sunbelt and Pacific Northwest that are well-known for the attraction of their amenities. The nonveteran migrants show a much wider geographic range that includes the Sunbelt states as well as states in the Northeast and Midwest. The profile of migrant characteristics suggests that differences may be due, in part, to age and gender differences of veterans, who are younger, on average, and nearly all male. The life course migration model helps to put this finding in perspective.
Used data from the Berkeley Guidance Study (
N = 214) to test the hypothesis that military service functioned as a turning point for American veterans born in 1928–1929 and serving in the armed forces from the late 1940's into the Korean War. Findings indicate that, as "children of the Great Depression," these Ss faced life choices with a personal history of disadvantage that increased the appeal of military service; a deprived family during the 1930's, poor grades, and self-inadequacy. Ss with such histories were most likely to enter the service at the earliest possible moment and to change the course of their lives. Early entry, in particular, entailed a later transition to adulthood in terms of completing their educations, getting married, and having their 1st child later than nonveterans. Despite a more erratic work life than others, the young veterans managed to use their work to enable them to equal the occupational achievements of nonveterans. Veterans generally had more stable marriages up to middle age than did nonveterans. Early entrants showed a larger gain in psychological strength and health from adolescence to midlife than did nonveterans. Overall, military service turned some Ss toward a brighter future, even though for others it produced a tragic side in terms of damaged health or death. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In this paper we examine the civilian earnings experience of Vietnam-era veterans and nonveterans between 1968 and 1977. Contrary to the results of other studies indicating sizable premiums for veterans of earlier wars but significant penalties for Vietnam veterans, we find only small overall differences between the earnings of Vietnam-era veterans and similar nonveterans. However, the absorption of veterans into the civilian labor market was slow, particularly during the early seventies. More detailed analysis shows that Vietnam-era veterans exhibited longitudinal earnings profiles which were initially lower but steeper than those of nonveterans, that veterans' relative earnings improved toward the end of this period, and that younger birth cohorts may have fared more poorly than older cohorts. Only those with less than a high school education consistently realized veteran premiums. We find no evidence that military service has benefited recent cohorts of nonwhite veterans.
World War II veterans earn more than nonveterans in their cohort. We test whether the World War II veteran premium reflects nonrandom selection into the military of men with higher earnings potential. The estimation is based on the fact that from 1942 to 1947 priority for conscription was determined by date of birth. Information on individuals' dates of birth may therefore be used to construct instrumental variables for veteran status. Empirical results from the 1960, 1970, and l980 censuses, along with two other microdata sets support a conclusion that World War II veterans earn no more than comparable nonveterans and may well earn less. Copyright 1994 by University of Chicago Press.
Veterans benefits that subsidize education and training constitute the largest federal program for student aid. Using data from the 1987 Survey of Veterans, the author presents estimates of the effect of veterans benefits on schooling completed since entering the military and on subsequent earnings. Veterans benefits are estimated to increase schooling by roughly 1.4 years, which implies annual earnings approximately 6% higher than would have been expected in the absence of the benefits. This premium appears to accrue primarily to the 77% of benefit users who attended college or graduate school. (Abstract courtesy JSTOR.)
Several studies have examined how military-provided training affects post-service employment experience, but this study is the first to investigate that relationship for young men and women who enlisted in the "all-volunteer" era that began in 1974. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey-Youth Cohort, the authors find that the transfer of skills to civilian employment was as high for military training as for civilian training (45-50 percent), once employer-provided training is excluded from consideration. Furthermore, within two years of their return to civilian life, those who received military training had higher earnings than those who received training in the civilian sector-a finding that contrasts with the results of studies of Vietnam veterans, but agrees with the results found for veterans of World War II and the Korean Conflict. (Abstract courtesy JSTOR.)
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Linking historical context with macro-social opportunity over the life course, we examine the social mechanisms by which military service in the World War II era fostered long-term socioeconomic achievement. Our analysis draws on a classic longitudinal study of delinquency that brings together data on childhood differences (e.g., IQ, early antisocial behavior), multimethod measures of military experiences, and adult socioeconomic outcomes among 1,000 men raised in poverty areas of Boston during the Great Depression. Supporting a theory of military service as a turning point in the transition to young adulthood, the results show that overseas duty, in-service schooling, and G.I.-Bill training at ages 17 to 25 generally enhanced subsequent occupational status, job stability, and economic well-being, independent of childhood differences and socioeconomic background. The benefits of the G.I. Bill were also larger for veterans stigmatized with an officially delinquent past, especially those who served in the military earlier rather than later in life. Overall the results underscore the potential of large-scale structural interventions in the lives of disadvantaged youths.
A fundamental weakness of most divorce studies in which duration of marriage has significance is the use of de jure (time of decree) rather than de facto (time of separation) information. Using the scant data in the literature and an admittedly crude measurement--the average of durations of marriages ending in divorce--the interval from marriage to separation is found to vary from area to area, from time to time, and from one population class to another. Couples in their first marriage, in higher socio-economic groups generally, who live in middle-sized population areas and have children, show longer durations than the rest. Legal structure and other factors also have an influence. A study of 1957 Wisconsin divorces supports these conclusions. Moreover, Wisconsin marriages are not found to be breaking up any sooner than they were two generations ago. American couples whose marriages end in divorce very soon reach a parting of the ways, and the more refined and complete facts have always supported the popular belief that "the first year is the hardest" for them.
The impact of military service as a career contingency affecting adult economic status is examined with a national probability sample of men given preinduction exams by Selective Service in the early 1950's. Civilian earnings in 1964 of former draftees and three types of non-veterans are compared after controlling race, region of employment, academic achievement, and years of education. Comparison of the earnings differences show most draftees with earnings equal to or below those of nonveterans. After the probable negative effect of service on draftee earnings has been removed, the remaining earnings difference is discussed. The operation of selection factors that bias earnings comparisons is evaluated. The hypothesis that military service provides a "bridging environment" that facilitates post-service economic achievement by minority and certain white males otherwise very likely to have low civilian earnings is not supported.
* Foreword Richard C. Leone * Success StoryWith Caveats * Blacks in the Common Defense * Making It: Afro-Americans in Todays Army * Handling Contentious Issues * Preparing Soldiers for a Level Playing Field * Army Values and Black Achievement * Army Lessons for American Society
While the effects of social origin variables on the status attainment process of individuals are well recognized, the influence of career contingencies-events occurring subsequent to the determination of social origin status-are less well explored. Using the 1/100 Public Use Sample of the 1960 U.S. Census, we examine the effects of one career contingency-military service-with respect to current income for three ethnic groups, Mexican Americans, blacks, and Anglos in five Southwestern states. Contrary to expectations based on Anglo-dominated statistics in which nonveterans report higher average income than veterans, among both blacks and Mexican Americans, veterans have higher average income than nonveterans. The concept of a "bridging environment" as applied to military service is used to interpret the minority patterns.
Wars and military conscription have involved millions of men, women, and children, though very little is known about their long-term effect on lives. Using cohorts of American and Japanese men, this study investigates three hypothesised effects of World War II. War mobilisation and related experiences: (1) altered the timing and sequencing of events in the transition to adulthood, especially when they occurred relatively early in life; (2) increased educational advancement and occupational opportunity; and (3) generally produced life changes that made the war a perceived turning point in the life course. Each of these propositions applies mainly to men who were mobilised at an early age. Data come from the Shizuoka city life history study of 1982, and from two longitudinal archives at the Institute of Human Development, Berkeley (the Oakland Growth Study and the Berkeley Guidance Study). The older Japanese men were born in 1918-24; the older Americans, in 1920-21. Younger cohorts include Japanese men born in 1927-30 and American men born in 1928-29. Especially among men in the younger cohort, Japanese and American, results from the data analysis generally provide empirical support for the life-course alteration, opportunity, and turning point hypotheses.
This article investigates the impact of military service on the socioeconomic status of African American and white, non-Hispanic women veterans of the post-1973 U.S. allvolunteer force. Earnings and family income are used as measures of socioeconomic status. Data from the 1990 Public Use Microdata Sample L were used in this analysis. This data set is a .45 percent sample drawn from the 1990 Census. Using semilogarithmic regression, we found that, overall, African American women veterans did not differ significantly from their non-serving counterparts, controlling for several factors associ ated with socioeconomic status. White, non-Hispanic women veterans, however, suffered an earnings and family income penalty relative to similar non-serving women. The data suggest that this veteran disadvantage may be due to the interaction of military service. child-bearing patterns, and educational attainment.
Little research has examined the relationship between military service and criminal behavior, and what few studies exist have included a basic comparison of a group of men with military service and a group without service. This strategy fails to consider how the military experience may differ for different individuals. This study examines whether the relationship between military service and criminal behavior depends on sociodemographic characteristics. Results from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth suggest that, during the first few years of the all-volunteer force, some groups do appear to become involved in more violent offending after entering the military. On the other hand, military service may reduce the risk of violence for some groups, such as African Americans. Thus, the influence of military service on later offending does appear to depend on individual characteristics. In addition, this was a unique time in military history, and results may vary by historical period.
This article compares the socioeconomic benefits of reservists with prior active military service (PS) and reservists with nonprior service (NPS). The economic theory of investment in human capital, the sociological concept of higher educational attainment, and the social psychological theory of the development of personality traits associated with PS are employed to develop a conceptual framework. The "bridging" argument of greater gains to nonwhite reservists is also tested for data for the All Volunteer Force era. Regression analysis of the Defense Manpower Data Center's Reserve Components Surveys (n = 8,000) revealed that individual and family earnings of PS personnel were higher by 6.8% and 3.5%, respectively, compared to similar earnings of NPS reservists. The results also found some support for the bridging hypothesis in that nonwhite reservists had higher family earnings and higher home ownership relative to white reservists. Limitations of the article for generalizability of the results to all veterans relative to nonveterans are also discussed.
This paper analyzes military families as the intersection of two societal institutions, both of which make great demands on individuals in terms of commitment, loyalty, time, and energy. It shows the increasing conflict between these two "greedy institutions' due to various trends in American society and military family patterns. The demands that American armed forces make on members and their families are described, including the risk of injury or death, geographic mobility, family separations, residence in foreign countries, and normative constraints on the behavior of spouses and children. Also discussed are trends that are increasing the potential military/family conflict, including general changes in women's roles in society (especially labor force participation) and specific changes in military family patterns, such as increases in the number of married junior enlisted personnel, sole parents, active duty mothers, and dual-service couples. Actual and potential military adaptations to these changes are considered, with particular attention to their implications for institutional and occupational trends in the military.
Much of the literature testing the relationship between economic prosperity and veteran status is concerned with short-term earnings effects. Since short term earning effects may be obscured by lack of job tenure, this paper reports on long term earnings, focusing on groups of veterans, disaggregated by race, approximately twenty years after military service in WWII. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey was used to test the relationship. The findings illustrate that veteran status is a positive and significant variable in explaining the earnings in 1966 of groups of ex-service members, regardless of race, fifteen to twenty years after service. The authors conclude that military service is significantly related to earnings.
Although earlier research lends support to the proposition that military service produces an earnings advantage to minority group veterans, few analyses have focused on differences between veterans of different war eras and veteran-nonveteran differences. This study assesses the extent to which black and Mexican American veterans from three war periods fare better economically than comparably defined groups of nonveterans of the same periods. Three data sets from the 1970 U.S. census bureau were used to tests the relationship between veteran status and economic earnings. The authors conclude that in general black and Mexican American veterans have adjusted earnings advantages over nonveterans, which is sustained over three war cohorts but is not as striking for the Vietnam cohort. The findings provide overall support for the hypothesis that military service may have a positive influence on the civilian earnings behavior of black and Mexican American men.
This article uses Public Use Microsample (PUMS) data drawn from the 1990 census to explore the relationship between military presence, defined as the percentage of the local labor force in the active-duty armed forces, and women's employment and earnings across local labor market areas (LMAs) in the United States. Comparisons of local rates of unemployment and mean women's earnings are made between those LMAs in which the military plays a disproportionate role in the local labor market and those in which military presence is low. Results suggest that women who live in labor market areas with a substantial (5 percent or greater) military presence have, on average, lower annual earnings and higher rates of unemployment than their counterparts who live in nonmilitary LMAs. The argument is made that through the interaction of several socially situated conditions—including gender, family, labor markets, human capital, and place—the military emerges as a source of inequality in labor market outcomes for women working on or around military installations.
The labor needs of World War II fueled a growing demand for both military and war industry personnel. This longitudinal study investigates mobilization into these competing activities and their work life effects among men from the middle class. Hazard estimates show significant differences in wartime activities across occupations, apart from other deferment criteria. By war's end, critical employment, in contrast to military service, is positively associated with supervisory responsibility for younger men and with occupation change. This empoloyment does not predict postwar career advancement up to the 1970s. By comparison, men who were officers had a "pipeline" to advancement after the war, whereas other service men fared worse than nonveterans.
Over 16 million men served during World War II (WWII), and we know that veterans obtained more education and earned higher incomes than did non-veterans and that these premiums were more substantial for Blacks and less educated men. However, we know very little about the reasons for such veteran premiums. Using several distinct, yet connected, theoretical traditions that have been used to link military service to subsequent outcomes—theories of the life course, the status attainment perspective, relatively new conceptualizations of social capital, economic theories of human capital, and theories of selectivity—we seek to redress this lack of understanding. We use survey data from the National Longitudinal Study of Mature Men (NLSMM) to examine the long-term effects of military service during WWII on occupational and income attainments. We find that the effects associated with being a veteran of WWII are modest and are mostly limited to less advantaged veterans, and can be largely explained by differences in human capital investment or selectivity. The one finding that cannot be explained by differences in family background, human capital investments, and selectivity is a higher hourly wage rate associated with being a Black veteran.
This article addresses an apparent lack of scholarship surrounding the effect of short-term military service on post service career status. Typical arguments on the topic assumed a preexisting superiority of these men, educational advantage from veteran benefits, and heightened aspirations. Analyzing a sample of 50,000 males between 18-64 from US Census Bureau data, the authors argue that there were varying relationships between military service and economic success between WW I and Vietnam. Overall, the findings suggest that military service contributed to economic success, especially for minorities, but only to varying degrees. The relationship between service and success appeared highest for WW II veterans, lower for Korean War Veterans, and inverse for Vietnam veterans. However, this variation could be due to prior selection rather than effect. Moreover, education could play a more integral role. Though as the authors argue, there seems to be a tipping point at which economic gains are minimized when a sufficient percentage of the population becomes educated.
I. The conceptual framework, 396. — II. The model, 402. — III. Empirical application, 406. — IV. Some extensions of the analysis,
411. — V. Conclusion, 421.
A diverse array of factors may influence both earnings and consumption; however, this work primarily focuses on the impact of investments in human capital upon an individual's potential earnings and psychic income. For this study, investments in human capital include such factors as educational level, on-the-job skills training, health care, migration, and consideration of issues regarding regional prices and income. Taking into account varying cultures and political regimes, the research indicates that economic earnings tend to be positively correlated to education and skill level. Additionally, studies indicate an inverse correlation between education and unemployment. Presents a theoretical overview of the types of human capital and the impact of investment in human capital on earnings and rates of return. Then utilizes empirical data and research to analyze the theoretical issues related to investment in human capital, specifically formal education. Considered are such issues as costs and returns of investments, and social and private gains of individuals. The research compares and contrasts these factors based upon both education and skill level. Areas of future research are identified, including further analysis of issues regarding social gains and differing levels of success across different regions and countries. (AKP)
We examine the relationship between military service and educational, occupational, and income attainment in three cohorts of young men spanning the period from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. This is a period covering the war in Vietnam, the end of the draft, and the beginning of the All-volunteer Force. We consider the effect of military service separately for African-American men and white men and take into account the potential confounding influence of unmeasured self-selection into the military. Our results indicate that there is a relationship between military service and subsequent attainment, but it varies according to race and is dependent on historical context.
A matched sample of Social Security and Current Population Survey records is used to examine life-cycle earnings patterns of white males over the 1951-1976 period. Estimated direct effects of schooling and experience compare well with other studies, but interaction effects with cohort do not. Younger cohorts exhibit smaller marginal returns to schooling and larger marginal returns to experience, but differences between cohorts are very small. When demographic factors, namely, veteran status, are controlled, direct cohort effects are linear in these data and show no tendency to vary with cohort size.
This paper examines the effects of military experience and civilian experience on the earnings of veterans with the objective of determining the substitutability of these two forms of experience for personnel receiving different types of military training. To perform the analysis, the Social Security earnings records of 24,000 individuals who separated from military service in fiscal year 1971 were obtained for the period 1972-77. Analysis of these data reveals that more military experience does increase subsequent civilian earnings, but that the relative impact of military and civilian experience varies considerably by military occupation category.
At the conclusion of World War II, Americans anxiously contemplated the return to peace. It was an uncertain time, rife with concerns about demobilization, inflation, strikes, and the return of a second Great Depression. Balanced against these challenges was the hope in a future of unparalleled opportunities for a generation raised in hard times and war. One of the remarkable untold stories of postwar America is the successful assimilation of sixteen million veterans back into civilian society after 1945. The G.I. generation returned home filled with the same sense of fear and hope and that most citizens felt at the time. Their transition from conflict to normalcy is one of the greatest chapters in American history. The Greatest Generation Comes Home combines military and social history into a comprehensive narrative of the veteran's experience after World War II. It integrates early impressions of home in 1945 with later stories of medical recovery, education, work, politics, and entertainment, as well as moving accounts of the dislocation, alienation, and discomfort many faced. This book includes the experiences of not only the millions of veterans drawn from mainstream white America but also the women, African Americans, Latinos, and Asian American who served the nation. Perhaps most important, this book also examines the legacy bequeathed by these veterans to later generations who served in uniform on new battlefields around the world.
Human Capital is Becker's classic study of how investment in an individual's education and training is similar to business investments in equipment. Recipient of the 1992 Nobel Prize in Economic Science, Gary S. Becker is a pioneer of applying economic analysis to human behavior in such areas as discrimination, marriage, family relations, and education. Becker's research on human capital was considered by the Nobel committee to be his most noteworthy contribution to economics. This expanded edition includes four new chapters, covering recent ideas about human capital, fertility and economic growth, the division of labor, economic considerations within the family, and inequality in earnings. "Critics have charged that Mr. Becker's style of thinking reduces humans to economic entities. Nothing could be further from the truth. Mr. Becker gives people credit for having the power to reason and seek out their own best destiny."âWall Street Journal
This thesis investigates the impact of military service on the socioeconomic status of women veterans of the post-1973 U.S. all-volunteer force by comparing the earnings and family income of women veterans to similar non-serving women. Data from the 1990 Public Use Microdata Sample L were used in this analysis. This data set is a .45 percent sample drawn from 1990 Census data and contains information on 1,139,142 individuals. These data are delineated by labor market area, which allows for the calculation and control of local labor market conditions. Military service may directly impact status attainment by increasing a woman veteran's human capital and/or her ability to convert human capital into socioeconomic status. Additionally, military service may also affect status attainment indirectly through its influence on familial variables (e.g., number of children, marital status) and through employers' perceptions of the capabilities of veterans relative to non-veterans. Using semilogarithihic regression, I found that, overall, African-American women veterans, white Hispanic women veterans,
The flood of veterans enrolling in college at the end of World War II contributed to widespread rhetoric that the G.I. Bill brought about the "democratization" of American higher education. Whether military service, combined with educational benefits, led World War II veterans to increase their investments in college has received little research attention. Our estimation strategy focuses on between-cohort differences in military service, and we use census data to compare the collegiate attainment of veterans and nonveterans. The net effect of military service and G.I. benefits was substantial gains in the collegiate attainment of World War II veterans.
The end of World War II brought a flood of returning veterans to America's colleges and universities. Yet, despite widespread rhetoric about the democratization' of higher education that came with this large pool of students, there is little evidence about the question of whether military service, combined with the availability of post-war educational benefits, led these men to increase their investments in education - particularly at the college and university level. This paper uses the structure of the draft during the World War II period and the changing manpower requirements in the armed forces to address the effects of selection in comparisons of the educational attainment of veterans and nonveterans in this era. Using census data, our results indicate that the net effects of military service and the widely available funding for college through the G.I. Bill led to a moderate gain in the postsecondary educational attainment of World War II veterans.