In this report, the authors examine how military service connects to earnings in the civilian labor market by tracking veterans’ and non-veterans’ labor market outcomes eight years after entering the civilian workforce. The authors linked data from two major U.S. Census Bureau datasets to compare veterans’ and non-veterans’ earnings outcomes over time while accounting for observable differences.

Examining the Evolution of Veteran Labor Market Outcomes

Lisa Abraham, Christine Mulhern, Isaac M. Opper, Prateek Puri, Elizabeth Roth, Jeffrey B. Wenger

ResearchPublished Sep 15, 2026

The transition from military service to civilian employment can be difficult for veterans: They must translate military skills into civilian job terms, decide whether to pursue additional education, and present their backgrounds to employers who may not understand how military experience maps onto civilian roles. These early transition challenges may have lasting implications for veterans’ earnings trajectories. Yet despite these hurdles, relatively little research examines how veterans fare over the long term in the civilian labor force after leaving the military.

In this report, the authors examine how military service connects to earnings in the civilian labor market by tracking veterans’ and non-veterans’ labor market outcomes eight years after entering the civilian workforce. The authors linked data from the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics program—the largest longitudinal panel of U.S. worker employment—to data from the American Community Survey to follow workers’ earnings from 2005 to 2019.

The resulting dataset allows the authors to account for factors that are usually unavailable in administrative data, such as characteristics of a worker’s initial occupation. The authors used these data to compare veterans’ and non-veterans’ earnings outcomes over time while accounting for observable differences.

Key Takeaways

  • In this sample, veterans’ earnings grew faster than comparable non-veterans’ over the eight years after labor market entry.
  • Although veterans started with slightly lower earnings, their earnings grew about 10 percentage points more than non-veterans’ over that period.
  • This earnings growth advantage was present across demographic groups, including male, female, Black, Asian, Hispanic, and White veterans.
  • More research—especially datasets that link veterans’ military service histories to comprehensive civilian employment records, including federal employment—is needed to comprehensively understand veterans’ military-to-civilian labor market transition.

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Abraham, Lisa, Christine Mulhern, Isaac M. Opper, Prateek Puri, Elizabeth Roth, and Jeffrey B. Wenger, Examining the Evolution of Veteran Labor Market Outcomes. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2026. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA4405-2.html.
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Funding for this research was made possible by a generous gift from Daniel J. Epstein through the Epstein Family Foundation. This research was conducted within the RAND Epstein Family Veterans Policy Research Institute of RAND Education, Employment, and Infrastructure.

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