Volume 38, Number 3 (Summer) 2003
Hirsch, Barry T., and Stephen L. Mehay. 2003. "Evaluating the Labor Market Performance of Veterans Using a Matched Comparison Group Design." Journal of Human Resources 38(3):673-700.
The effect of active-duty service on civilian earnings is
estimated using the Reserve Components Surveys, permitting a matched comparison
between reservists who are veterans and reservists without active-duty service.
Estimated treatment effects control for selection by the military and
individuals, due in part to identical active-duty and reserve entrance
requirements. The average impact of active-duty service on civilian earnings is
3 percent among the reservist population, reflecting effects of essentially zero
for enlisted personnel and 10 percent for officers. Among white enlisted
personnel veteran effects are negative but small, while averaging about 5
percent among African-Americans. Wage penalties resulting from Vietnam-era
service are larger for white draftees than volunteers, while African-American
draftees and volunteers realized gains.
Barry Hirsch is E. M. Stevens Distinguished Professor of Economics,
Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas and a research fellow at IZA Bonn.
Stephen Mehay is a professor of economics at the Graduate School of Business and
Public Policy, U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. The authors
thank Jeff Biddle, Mike Greenwood, Paul Hogan, Madeline Zavodny, and, in
particular, two anonymous referees for helpful suggestions. Dennis Mar and
Melissa Potter provided excellent computing assistance. The views expressed are
solely those of the authors. The data were obtained from the Defense Manpower
Data Center. Programs used in the statistical analysis can be obtained beginning
February, 2004 through January 2007 from Barry Hirsch, Trinity University.
© 2003 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
US ISSN 0022-166X