Mangum, Stephen L.
Ball, David E.
Military Service and Post-Service Labor Market Outcomes
Report, Columbus OH: Center for Human Resource Research, The Ohio State University, 1984
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Center for Human Resource Research
Keyword(s): Labor Market Outcomes; Military Service; Military Training; Occupations;

Utilizing a sample from the NLSY of individuals who left schooling between 1975 and 1978 and subsequently decided to enter the armed forces or enter directly into the labor force, the authors compare labor market outcomes for these two groups as of the 1983 interview. It is shown that those choosing to serve in the military were, on average, doing less well than their counterparts who did not serve. Differences in occupation and firm-specific tenure accounted for much of the difference. The study indicates a key factor offsetting the apparent negative effect of military service is attainment of post-military employment that uses occupational skills acquired while in the service.

Mangum, Stephen L.
Ball, David E.
Military Service, Occupational Training, and Labor Market Outcomes: An Update
Report, Columbus OH: Center for Human Resource Research, The Ohio State University, 1986
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Center for Human Resource Research
Keyword(s): Labor Market Outcomes; Military Service; Military Training; Occupations; Schooling, Post-secondary; Training, Occupational; Training, Post-School; Transfers, Skill;

This report updates the authors' 1984 report using a sample of individuals leaving school and facing the enlistment decision between 1975 and 1979. Labor market outcomes are evaluated as of the 1984 interview. The report focuses on the transferability of military-provided occupational training, comparing its transferability to that of training provided by non-military institutions. The authors isolate factors influencing skill transferability and suggest the incidence of skill transfer of military training to be similar to that of other training providers for the individuals in this sample.

Mangum, Stephen L.
Ball, David E.
Military Skill Training: Some Evidence of Transferability
Armed Forces and Society 13,3 (Spring 1987): 425-441.
Also: http://afs.sagepub.com/content/13/3/425.abstract
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces & Society
Keyword(s): Gender Differences; Military Training; Skills; Training; Transfers, Skill;

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Using data from the NLSY, this study examines the skill transferability of military-provided training to civilian employment. With other factors controlled, males were most readily able to transfer training in the service, craft, and equipment repair occupations, while transfer percentages for females were greatest in the traditional occupational stronghold of administrative/functional support. Analysis of skill transfer between nonmilitary training providers and employment showed that the occupational areas offering the greatest probability of skill transfer were similar to those that emerged in the analysis of military training. For males, the probability of skill transfer for those trained by the military was significantly lower than that for those in apprenticeship and employer-provided training programs, but not significantly different from that associated with training through vocational/technical institutes, proprietary business colleges, and so forth. Females involved in employer- provided training, apprenticeships, nursing programs, or beauty school programs were more likely to find jobs in the occupation for which they were trained than were those receiving training in the military. Key in explaining these differences may be the presence of internal labor-market mechanisms, which facilitate the transition from training to work in some institutional settings. Analysis of this data set leaves little reason to doubt the viability of the military as a training provider offering linkages to the civilian work world.

Mangum, Stephen L.
Ball, David E.
The Transferability of Military-Provided Occupational Training in the Post-Draft Era
Industrial and Labor Relations Review 42,2 (January 1989): 230-245.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2523356
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Keyword(s): Military Draft; Military Training; Training, Occupational; Transfers, Skill;

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Using a sample drawn from the NLSY, the authors have documented significant amounts of skill transfer between military-provided training and civilian employment. The probability of skill transfer of those receiving military training was not significantly different than that of individuals trained by nonmilitary providers of occupational training outside the institutional structure of internal labor market mechanisms facilitating the training to work transfer. Based on the analysis of this data set, there is little reason to doubt the viability of the military as a training provider offering access to the world of work, though the analysis does suggest exploration of alternative schemes for improving linkages between training providers and employment opportunities to be a potentially valuable area for further policy discussion.