Labor Market Outcomes among Veterans, 1979-2010.

This paper evaluates changes in the association between military service and socioeconomic attainment across age, period, and cohort. It draws on previous theories regarding the role of military service in providing a turning point or contributing to cumulative advantage, as well as observations about how institutions have changed over time. It uses three decades of data from the Current Population Survey, which allow us to compare the experiences of veterans who served in the military in four different wartime eras (World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan). In these preliminary analyses we find changes in the relative fate of veterans across all temporal dimensions. We find that veterans on average have earned more than non-veterans, but that this premium has declined over time. In part, these period effects are associated with age and cohort differences. Veterans in previous cohorts had higher average earnings than non-veterans, for example, with the exception of those who were eligible to serve during the Vietnam era. Yet, veterans have the same average earnings in the beginning and end of the work life, but lower earnings than non-veterans at middle age. In the version to be presented at ASA, we plan to extend our theorizing to account for these complicated effects, and provide long-term historical comparisons not just of earnings, but also of labor force participation and unemployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]