Article: Joining up: Did military service in the early all volunteer era affect subsequent civilian income? Social Science Research, December 2007
Summary: “The military has historically been the single largest employer of young men and the largest vocational training institution in the nation.” So how are the benefits? Jay Teachman and Lucky Tedrow examine the long-term impact of military service on men’s income and find that military service gives young men from disadvantaged backgrounds an income boost while they’re active, but things tend to even out for enlistees once discharged. Furthermore, white veterans with at least a high school degree suffer an income deficit when compared to their civilian counterparts.
“Nearly two decades following discharge from the military (and net of many important controls, including several attempts to adjust for selectivity), better educated White veterans earn about 87% of the income enjoyed by their nonveteran counterparts. Thus, on the face of the matter, military service does not appear to be a wise economic choice for many men who could otherwise do better by remaining in the civilian labor market. They lose critical labor market experience and likely lose important information about job networks.”
The noteworthy exception to this trend is that Blacks with less than a high school education receive an income premium from their service. These results have important implications for military recruitment efforts.