Veterans are an understudied group that varieties an necessary a part of the material of American society and that constitutes a big phase of the inhabitants. Within the first put up of this two-part collection, we’ll examine how the outcomes of veteran males–in instructional attainment, well being, and housing–differ from these of comparable males who didn’t serve within the army. Trying solely at males, for causes described under, we discover that relative to nonveteran males with a highschool diploma and an analogous distribution of demographic and geographic traits, veterans are 7 proportion factors much less more likely to have a school diploma and are over 50 p.c extra more likely to expertise a incapacity. Veterans are additionally considerably likelier to lease a house than to personal and, as renters, pay a decrease common lease, suggesting they expertise decrease high quality housing or stay in worse neighborhoods.
Service within the army might deliver each financial benefits and financial disadvantages. It represents a dedication of time away from classroom training or civilian employment in the course of the very years when many individuals start their careers. It additionally carries with it the specter of damage or extreme psychological stress. Nonetheless, army service may additionally deliver benefits, similar to alternatives to be taught new technical and interpersonal expertise, entry to medical insurance by the Veterans’ Administration, or subsidies to larger training by the G.I. Invoice.
The Knowledge Set
We use the 2019 five-year American Group Survey (ACS), the final one earlier than the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, to compute common outcomes for male veterans and nonveterans aged between 25 and 69. This reduce of the info has us wanting on the inhabitants of veterans who served when enlistment within the armed forces was voluntary, after the top of the draft in 1971. It’s a problem to assemble a comparability group since veterans differ from nonveterans amongst many dimensions. For instance, veterans are overwhelmingly more likely to be male highschool graduates because the army usually requires a highschool diploma for service. Veterans are older, with enlistment charges drifting down over time. They’re additionally extra more likely to be native-born and white, and extra more likely to have been born within the South and the Midwest than within the Northeast and the West.
Due to this fact, for a extra comparable group for veterans, we take the inhabitants of nonveteran male highschool graduates and weight them to match the age, racial, ethnic, immigrant and geographic distributions of veterans. Following a earlier paper, we use as weights the fractions of the male highschool graduate inhabitants in every age, race, origin, and geography class who’re veterans. We’ll check with this management group as “comparable nonveterans” for the remainder of the collection. Whereas our methodology doesn’t take away all sources of variations between veterans and “reweighted” nonveterans (for instance, the veterans might differ from nonveterans in different features of their background, or in unobservables similar to persona or pursuits, for which there isn’t any knowledge within the ACS), it avoids the obvious sources of noncomparability between them and permits us to deal with the implications of being a veteran.
Differing Outcomes in Schooling, Well being, and Housing
Regardless of gaining access to the advantages of the G.I. Invoice, veterans are much less possible than comparable nonveterans to pursue additional training after highschool. We see within the chart under that whereas 34 p.c of male highschool graduates who aren’t veterans get hold of a bachelor’s diploma or larger, solely 27 p.c of veterans achieve this. Veterans are additionally much less more likely to finish their training with a bachelor’s diploma (17 p.c vs. 22 p.c) and to go on to acquire a sophisticated diploma (10 p.c vs. 12 p.c) than nonveterans. These variations could also be because of the direct results of army service (together with spending a lot of important years for training within the army), in addition to to unobserved variations between veterans and nonveterans that aren’t captured by their age, ethnic, and geographic background.
Veterans Are Much less More likely to Maintain a Bachelor’s or Superior Diploma
On the well being entrance, we see within the panel chart under that whereas the share of veterans that’s uninsured is considerably decrease than nonveterans, veterans are over 50 p.c extra more likely to have a incapacity, with the percentages rising even larger for some particular disabilities. Because of being eligible for extra types of medical insurance, solely 6 p.c of veterans are uninsured, in contrast with 11 p.c of comparable nonveterans (left panel). Nonetheless, regardless of this protection, the well being of veterans, at the very least as measured by the presence of disabilities, is poorer (proper panel). Veterans are additionally half once more as more likely to be disabled, with 19 p.c of veterans having a incapacity versus 12 p.c of comparable nonveterans. Veterans are greater than twice as more likely to have a listening to incapacity (7 p.c vs. 3 p.c) and practically twice as more likely to have a sensory incapacity (9 p.c vs. 5 p.c). Given that folks serving within the armed forces often need to go a medical assessment, disparities between veterans and nonveterans of their incapacity fee possible emerge both instantly from army service or from variations in what veterans and comparable nonveterans do after the veterans go away the army.
Veterans Are Extra More likely to Have Well being Insurance coverage, But Are Extra More likely to Be Disabled
Sources: American Group Survey; authors’ calculations.
This evaluation additionally sheds gentle on the housing state of affairs of veterans and nonveterans who both personal or lease. (We don’t take into account homelessness; whereas veteran homelessness is a important coverage concern, there are potential knowledge gaps for the reason that ACS methodology of discovering respondents possible undersamples the homeless). Within the panel chart under, we see that the renting standing of veterans and nonveterans differs little (left panel), standing in distinction to the academic and well being variations recognized above. Veterans are considerably extra more likely to lease than nonveterans are, however the homeownership fee amongst veterans is 70 p.c, only one proportion level lower than that of comparable nonveterans. Nonetheless, veterans could also be consuming housing of decrease high quality. Veterans who’re renters pay about 6 p.c much less in lease than comparable nonveteran renters, suggesting that they lease housing with fewer facilities or in worse neighborhoods (proper panel); the identical commentary about housing high quality might apply to veteran householders.
Veterans Are Barely Extra More likely to Hire, and Hire Much less Costly Housing
Sources: American Group Survey; authors’ calculations.
To conclude, we see that, when making the comparability with nonveterans who’re demographically much like veterans, veterans have decrease training attainment and a higher prevalence of disabilities than nonveterans. The information additionally counsel veterans are in considerably worse housing conditions. Within the second put up of this collection, we’ll examine variations in earnings and labor market outcomes of veterans and nonveterans, and the way these variations could also be defined by their disparities when it comes to training and well being. Extra broadly, we’ll proceed to trace knowledge related to financial outcomes by race/ethnicity, gender, revenue, age, veteran standing, and geography in a brand new month-to-month knowledge product, Equitable Growth Indicators (EGI). Go to our internet function for charts and temporary takeaways on disparities in individuals’s expertise of inflation, earnings, employment, and shopper spending.
Rajashri Chakrabarti is the top of Equitable Progress Research within the Federal Reserve Financial institution of New York’s Analysis and Statistics Group.
Dan Garcia is a analysis analyst within the Federal Reserve Financial institution of New York’s Analysis and Statistics Group.
Maxim Pinkovskiy is an financial analysis advisor in Equitable Progress Research within the Federal Reserve Financial institution of New York’s Analysis and Statistics Group.
cite this put up:
Rajashri Chakrabarti, Dan Garcia, and Maxim Pinkovskiy, “Do Veterans Face Disparities in Larger Schooling, Well being, and Housing?,” Federal Reserve Financial institution of New York Liberty Avenue Economics, Might 25, 2023, https://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2023/05/do-veterans-face-disparities-in-higher-education-health-and-housing/.
Disclaimer
The views expressed on this put up are these of the creator(s) and don’t essentially mirror the place of the Federal Reserve Financial institution of New York or the Federal Reserve System. Any errors or omissions are the duty of the creator(s).
