Publications

» Publications » Declining Wealth and Work among Male Veterans in the Health and Retirement Study

Declining Wealth and Work among Male Veterans in the Health and Retirement Study

Authors

Abstract

The composition, wealth, and employment of male veterans and nonveterans are analyzed for four cohorts from the Health and Retirement Study, ages 51 to 56 in 1992, 1998, 2004, and 2010. Half of the two oldest cohorts served in the military. Only 16 percent of the youngest cohort, the only cohort subject to the all-volunteer military, served. One-fifth to one-third of the members of each cohort who served saw combat, mainly in Vietnam and in the Gulf War. Among those 51 to 56 in 1992, veterans were better educated, healthier, wealthier, and more likely to be working than nonveterans. By 2010, 51- to 56-year-old veterans had lost their educational advantage, were less healthy, less wealthy, and less likely to be working than nonveterans. After standardizing in multiple regressions for the influence of major observable characteristics, for the original 1992 HRS cohort, the wealth of veterans is no longer higher than the wealth of nonveterans. In contrast, the wealth of veterans from the youngest cohort, those 51 to 56 in 2010, remains about 10 to 13 percent below the wealth of nonveterans from that cohort. There also is a decline from older to younger cohorts of veterans compared to nonveterans in the probability of being not retired, of working more than 35 hours per week, and in the likelihood of holding a job for more than 10 years. Comparisons are made within the group of veterans by years of service, officer rank and other covariates.

Key Findings

  • We study the characteristics, wealth and retirement of veterans and nonveterans in four cohorts of males from the Health and Retirement Study, ages 51 to 56 in 1992, 1998, 2004 and 2010.
  • In the oldest cohorts, roughly half the male population served in the military, while in the presence of a draft. Only about one sixth of the youngest cohort had served, and that was as a volunteer in the All-Volunteer military.
  • Veterans in the 1992 cohort were better educated, were healthier, had more wealth going into retirement, and were more likely to work into a later age (less likely to retire) than nonveterans.
  • Relative to nonveterans, the cohort of veterans in 2010 is less well educated, less healthy, has lower wealth entering retirement and is less likely to work than nonveterans.
  • After standardizing for differences in observable variables, the wealth of veterans from the 1992 cohort entering retirement is similar to the wealth of nonveterans. This is not the case for the 2010 cohort. After standardizing for differences in observable factors, veterans have about 10 to 13 percent less wealth than nonveterans.

Citation

Gustman, Alan L., Thomas Steinmeier, and Nahid Tabatabai. 2015 "Declining Wealth and Work among Male Veterans in the Health and Retirement Study." Ann Arbor, MI. University of Michigan Retirement Research Center (MRRC) Working Paper, WP 2015-323. https://mrdrc.isr.umich.edu/publications/papers/pdf/wp323.pdf

Full Text

Download PDF

Project

Paper ID

WP 2015-323

Publication Type

Working Paper

Publication Year

2015