ABSTRACT
Veterans typically serve in the military during young adulthood when civilian peers are gaining education and work experience. This often puts veterans “behind” their peers who follow more normative age-patterned transitions from school to nonmilitary work, although it may have specific benefits for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds (see Kelty and Segal, Chapter 2 of this volume, and Bennett and McDonald, Chapter 6 of this volume). To gain a fuller portrait of how veterans fare in the labor market after service, it is important to examine key turning points and outcomes at a single point in time, such as enlistment or separation from service, as well as trajectories over time in their experiences while serving in the military, post-service earnings, and occupational attainment. Nearly three decades of scholarship concerning the effects of military service on veterans’ employment and earnings has produced inconsistent findings, partly because of methodological challenges (e.g., selection bias, data constraints, and others) (see Wolf, Wing, and Lopoo, Chapter 13 of this volume). This body of research suggests that veterans sometimes outperform their non-veteran peers, but more typically, they come from behind and face bumpy paths back toward parity with civilians. These trajectories vary in terms of personal biography, specific military experience, and historical context.
