Publication year
2014
Citation Title
Honey I love you, but... Investigating the causes of the earnings penalty of being a tied-migrant military spouse.
Journal Name
Armed Forces & Society
Journal Volume
41
Issue Number
3
Page Numbers
413-439
DOI
10.1177/0095327X13512620
Summary
Census data were used to compare salaries of military spouses to salaries of civilians. Overall, military spouses have lower annual incomes than their civilian counterparts. This differential is due to three factors: (1) the decision not to work, (2) different qualifications, and (3) more limited work opportunities, which impact husbands and wives differently.
Key Findings
Military spouses work fewer hours and earn less annually than their civilian counterparts.
Compared to spouses of civilian employees, military wives have a 53% earning penalty, and military husbands a 43% penalty.
Among military wives, 25% of the observed earning differential is due to the decision not to work, 51% to their different qualifications, and 24% to more limited job opportunities.
Among military husbands, 21% of the wage differential is due to the decision not to work, 37% to different qualifications, and 42% to more limited job opportunities.
Implications for Program Leaders
Offer additional specialized job training for military spouses
Provide courses and workshops on salary negotiation for spouses of Service members
Create listings of military-friendly jobs previously occupied by military spouses
Implications for Policy Makers
Consider longer rotation times on military bases to allow spouses longer job tenure
Continue to support programs that offer spousal employment opportunities on base
Encourage collaboration among DoD and community employers to help military spouses secure employment
Methods
Four groups were constructed from the Census data: wives of Service members, husbands of Service members, wives of civilian employees, and husbands of civilian employees.
The study sample was drawn from approximately 19 million housing units who received the Census 2000 long form.
The military spouse sample was obtained by selecting married men and women with an industry code of Armed Forces, but excluded those in the Reserves or National Guard.
The civilian spouse sample was obtained by selecting married men and women who were working full- time and where both partners were civilians.
Participants
Participants were between the ages of 18-46 years.
Men married to a Service member were more likely to be younger and a minority compared to civilian husbands.
Women married to a Service member were more likely to be younger and a minority compared to civilian wives.
Limitations
The research does not account for the type of employment or industry.
Groups are not equivalent in terms of ethnic diversity.
The research uses Census data, which may have low response rates that favor specific demographics.
Avenues for Future Research
Explore wage differentials based on the duration of tenure on installations
Examine the impact of specific spousal careers and/or employers on spousal wages
Investigate wage differentials across ethnicity and other population characteristics
Focus
Multiple Branches
Target Population
Population Focus
Military Branch
Military Component
Abstract
Prior empirical research on the earnings penalty of being a tied-migrant has focused primarily on the working wives of servicemen. Over the last couple of decades the increased number of women in the armed forces makes it feasible to study the earnings of another group of tied-migrants, the husbands of servicewomen. Using data from the 2000 U.S. Census, Sample Edited Detail File (SEDF), we show that there is a consistently lower age-earnings pattern for military husbands as well as wives. These annual earnings patterns capture the essence of, but do not provide an explanation for, the observed annual earnings differences. These differences are evaluated using multivariate analysis accounting for sample selectivity. Moreover, decomposition analysis strongly suggests that demand-side factors account for a greater portion of the differences in annual earnings than has been previously acknowledged and, therefore, that retention might respond favorably to job matching assistance and/or employer hiring incentives offered military spouses.
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