Research for ELS:02

Since the beginning of the All-Volunteer Force, there have been concerns that the military might be particularly attractive to disadvantaged groups. We examine this issue using the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 to compare background characteristics of two groups of male high school seniors: those who said they were joining the military after graduation (prospects) and those who said they were joining the labor force after graduation (non-prospects). We find no evidence that prospects are disadvantaged compared with non-prospects. We extend the analysis using the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 to compare labor market and educational outcomes of male high school graduates who enlisted with those who joined the labor force. We find that enlistees are more likely to attend post-secondary education and that, conditional on doing so, they earn approximately 10 percent more than non-enlistees. The wage result should be viewed as suggestive because small sample sizes did not allow a comprehensive analysis.