Employment Gaps Between Military Spouses and Matched Civilians

• Author: Sarah O. Meadows,Julia Pollak,Beth Ann Griffin,Benjamin R. Karney
• DOI: 10.1177/0095327X15607810
• Date: 01 July 2016
• Published date: 01 July 2016
• Subject Matter: A Continuum of Employment Related Issues: Active Duty, Family, and Veterans

A Continuum of Employment Related Issues: Active Duty, Family, and Veterans
Armed Forces & Society
2016, Vol. 42(3) 542-561
Employment Gaps
ª The Author(s) 2015
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Between Military Spouses
DOI: 10.1177/0095327X15607810
afs.sagepub.com
and Matched Civilians
Sarah O. Meadows1, Beth Ann Griffin1,
Benjamin R. Karney2, and Julia Pollak1
Abstract
Drawing upon data from the Deployment Life Study, this article examines whether
female military spouses (SPs) are disadvantaged relative to matched civilian peers in
terms of hours worked and earnings, paying particular attention to gaps among the
highest educated women. Female SPs do earn less than comparable civilian peers in
terms of raw dollars and percentage earnings. Moreover, military wives who are part
of the labor force work as many hours as their civilian counterparts, but still earn
significantly less for that work. Contrary to predictions, the most educated SPs are
not disproportionately affected compared to spouses with less education. These
results suggest that SPs at all education levels could benefit from employment
assistance; in particular, women already participating in the labor force may benefit
from support in finding higher paying jobs.
Keywords
military families, wives’ employment, income, labor force participation
The U.S. military has devoted substantial resources toward maintaining and
improving the well-being of the spouses of service members (SMs; Zellman &
Gates, 2002). Yet despite this support, military spouses (SPs; typically wives) are
1 RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, USA
2 UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Corresponding Author:
Sarah O. Meadows, RAND Corporation, 1776 Main Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica,
CA 90407, USA.
Email: smeadows@rand.org

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Meadows et al.
543
substantially more likely to be unemployed or underemployed than civilian spouses
with comparable characteristics (Lim & Schulker, 2010). According to the 2012
Active Duty Spouse Survey (ADSS), 52% of SPs are employed full-time or part-
time (including 12% who are themselves in the military), 13% are unemployed, and
35% are out of the labor force (Defense Manpower Data Center [DMDC]). Yet, even
those SPs who do have jobs earn less, and as many as one third of stay-at-home SPs
report being out of the workforce reluctantly (Harrell, Lim, Castaneda, & Golinelli,
2004).
Aware of these challenges, in 2007 the Department of Defense created a suite of
Spouse Employment and Career Opportunities (SECO) programs to support the edu-
cation and employment of SPs. Yet despite considerable investment to date, SECO
programs are guided by a set of assumptions that has not yet been tested empirically,
as noted in a recent report calling the efficacy of these programs into question (Har-
kin, 2010; see also U.S. Government Accountability Office [GAO], 2012). For
example, many, although not all, programs assume that younger, less educated
spouses are the most appropriate target for employment interventions (e.g., Fried-
man, Miller, & Evans, 2015). The goal of the current work is to use data representing
the spouses of currently deployable, married SMs to directly test these assumptions.
Theoretical Perspectives on Employment Gaps Among SPs
Why would marriage to an SM reduce the employment prospects of SPs? In inter-
views, SPs highlight several aspects of military life that can interfere with their
career goals (Harrell et al., 2004). First, frequent moves due to reassignments may
prevent SPs from completing degrees, maintaining local licenses or certifications,
or progressing in a career that requires continued presence with an employer
(Castaneda & Harrell, 2008; Defense Manpower Data Center [DMDC], 2015). For
example, the 2012 ADSS found that, of spouses who experienced a recent move (or
permanent change of station [PCS]), almost one quarter needed 10 months or more
to secure a new professional credential or license in order to find work (DMDC,
2014). Second, poor local labor market conditions near military bases may deny
spouses employment opportunities that might be available elsewhere (Booth,
2003; Booth, Falk, Segal, & Segal, 2000). Third, SMs’ frequent deployments may
require their spouses to adjust hours, cut back on courses, or even give up employ-
ment or drop out of school in order to manage a household with only one resident
adult. Fourth, because the military competes for resources with other spheres of life
(e.g., education and work), it can push out other opportunities, such as developing a
career (Segal, 1986). A large and growing body of research on civilian populations
confirms that ‘‘trailing spouses’’ (i.e., those who follow their partner due to reloca-
tions related to the partner’s job) face a number of stressors, including adjustment to
a new culture, loss of an existing job or career, and familiarizing themselves with a
new employer’s support network (e.g., new doctors; Bayes, 1989; Cole & Nesbeth,
2014; Makowsky, Cook, Berger, & Powell, 1988; Mincer, 1978). SPs may also be

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Armed Forces & Society 42(3)
hindered in pursuing educational opportunities that might support improved employ-
ment opportunities and outcomes over time. For example, a recent survey of active
duty SPs found that deployment schedules and frequent moves were listed as reasons
for not attending school or training by 36% and 24% of spouses, respectively, who
wanted to participate in such activities (DMDC, 2014).
To the extent that these obstacles impact the career trajectories of SPs, one would
predict that the impact should be greatest among spouses who would otherwise have
the best career prospects. Younger and less educated spouses may have more limited
employment opportunities regardless of whether they are married to SMs, so the
gaps between military and civilian spouses should be less notable within that seg-
ment of the population. Older and more educated spouses, in contrast, presumably
have had more time and more training to invest in a career and so may be dispropor-
tionately constrained by the demands of military life. Moreover, careers that require
more education and more tenure in one position may be especially difficult to pursue
when spouses’ access to education and ability to accumulate tenure with one
employer is interrupted by a partner’s moves and deployments.
Prior Research on Employment Gaps Among SPs
Spouses certainly believe that military life impedes their careers. In a study of over
1,000 SPs, Castaneda and Harrell (2008) found that almost two thirds believe that
the military has had a negative impact on their employment. Independent studies
confirm that SPs face difficulties with respect to employment and work and earn less
than their civilian peers (Hosek, Asch, Fair, Martin, & Mattock, 2002; Hosek &
Wadsworth, 2013; Lim, Golinelli, & Cho, 2007). Estimates of the magnitude of the
employment gap for SPs vary, however, depending on the data source, the sample
examined, and the outcome examined (e.g., labor force participation, hourly or
weekly earnings, and annual income; see Lim & Golinelli, 2006).
Employment. Hosek, Asch, Fair, Martin, and Mattock (2002) used data from the
March Current Population Survey from the late 1990s to show that military wives
work 37.6 weeks per year, compared to 40.9 weeks for civilian wives. Lim and
Schulker (2010) found that military wives were more likely than civilians to report
involuntarily working part-time and having relatively high education for their jobs
(i.e., they were overqualified). Using the most recent data available, Hosek and
Wadsworth (2013) reported that female SPs were 9% less likely to participate in the
labor force during the year, 10% less likely to work full-time (30 or more hours per
week), and 14% less likely to work 33 weeks or more per year compared to their
civilian peers.
Earnings. Using census data, Hosek and colleagues (2002) showed that average
weekly wages for full-time employed military wives were US$268, compared to
US$308 for civilian wives (in 2000 dollars). Consistent with this result, Harrell, Lim,

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545
Castaneda, and Golinelli (2004) found an average hourly wage penalty among SPs
between US$1 and US$2, depending on the branch of the SM. An update of this
study found that civilian wives earned, on average, US$12/hr, whereas military
wives earned only US$9 (Lim et al., 2007). Using the most recent data available,
from the 2005 through 2011 American Community Survey (ACS), Hosek and Wads-
worth (2013) found that that the earnings differential between military and civilian
spouses was 19%.
Education as a moderator of employment gaps. Although gaps in employment and earn-
ings are found consistently across studies, the gaps are not found consistently across
spouses. Rather, the size of the observed employment gap appears to be moderated
by spouses’ education level. Payne, Warner, and Little (1992) directly compared the
implications of education for civilian and SPs and found that civilian women see a
larger return on education in terms of their odds of employment. At the same edu-
cation level, SPs earn 5% to 8% less than their civilian peers. More recent research
identifies a widening employment gap at the top of the education distribution in par-
ticular. According to Little and Hisnanick (2007), a military wife with a college
degree earned 20% less than her civilian peer and a high school graduate earned only
9% less.
Mobility as a moderator of employment gaps. Frequent relocations and deployments are
each associated with greater...