THE POSTMILITARY EARNINGS OF FEMALE VETERANS

The role of women in the military has grown rapidly. Using standard da tasets and a special survey of reservists, female veterans are found t o have better earnings endowments than nonveterans. Although female ve terans have higher unadjusted earnings than nonveterans, a wage disadv antage is found for white but not nonwhite veterans following control for measured and unmeasured skills. Low returns to military service ma y result from historically limited military opportunities for women an d difficulty in transferring skills to civilian jobs.