Author Description

Previous studies have shown that military wives women married to U.S. military service members are more likely to be unemployed than their civilian counterparts (Grossman, 1981; Hayghe, 1974; Schwartz, Wood, and Griffith, 1991; Payne Warner, and Little, 1992; Wardynski, 2000; Hosek et al., 2002; and Harrell et al., 2004). Those who are employed earn less on average than do civilian wives. These studies, however, in so far as they are based on large, representative samples, rely on information that is now somewhat dated, and they have little to say about military husbands. The purpose of the current study is to remedy these deficiencies by repeating earlier analyses of military wives using data from the 2000 census and by extending those analyses to military husbands. Specifically, we seek to determine the following: Background characteristics of military and civilian spouses that are potentially related to employment and earnings (e.g., race/ethnicity, education, mobility, and location). Employment and earnings status of military and civilian spouses, in general and for each service. Trends in all of these variables since 1990. The impact of individual and contextual characteristics of military and civilian spouses on employment disparities."