MDTC Summary & Beyond the Article - The Myth of Choice

Why We Ignore Military Spouses Out of the Workforce (Expanded Article)

Sorry for the delay in getting these summaries and stories out. My family just did a cross-country PCS move into a fixer-upper. The struggle is real…IYKYK. Thank you for your continued support and understanding. - Jen

The steady military spouse 21% unemployment rate somehow still makes headlines despite being a documented problem since the 1970s. We don’t often read about the 36% of military spouses who are out of the workforce entirely. The often-ignored truth is military spouses are out of the workforce at statistically higher rates than their civilian counterparts but no one talks about it because it is seen as a “choice”. 

Army spouse Elizabeth Mays was relieved that her husband was going to be able to be there for the birth of their child. He was about to deploy so they knew there was no guarantee he would be able to be there for this important family moment. But her relief was short-lived when she started to sort through the logistics. “We did the math, and I would be paying them $50 a week essentially to work there,” given childcare costs, said Mays. “And so that was a decision. It just doesn't make sense. I'm going to have a newborn. I'm going to be commuting an hour…It was five years later that I looked to reenter the workforce.”

Although the Mays family weighed their options and Elizabeth “chose” to exit the workforce her story highlights a level of nuance about the decisions military spouses make that the military community often glazes over.

“When we talked to military spouses, they kind of felt like they didn't have much of a choice,” John Sawyer, Director for Education, Workforce and Income Security for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) told Military.com in a May interview. “Either they wouldn't, could not work at all or work part-time, just based on the challenges they faced.” The GAO recently released a report diving into the experiences of military spouses who choose to work part-time.

“About 23% said they worked part-time because they wanted to spend time with their children. About 16% said they can only find part-time work, 12% said they face child care problems,” said Sawyer citing findings from the DoD’s 2019 Survey of Active Duty Spouses that informed their report. 

“The big problem with the rhetoric of choice is that it leaves out power. Those who benefit from the status quo always attribute inequities to the choices of the underdog,” writes Pulitzer Prize nominee, Ann Crittenden in her book, The Price of Motherhood. 

Over the years I have spoken to many military spouse parents who “choose” to work part-time or remain out of the workforce to create stability for their children. While many spouses do remain out of the workforce as their children get older, most make this “choice” when their kids are young and child care is more expensive and illusive. The 2019 survey confirms these stories. Parents of children under six years old were more likely to report “wanting to stay home with kids” (41%) and experiencing “child care problems” (25%) as their reason for working part-time. Respondents with older children had fewer child care “problems” which makes sense. Older kids are in school half the day and can attend school-provided before- and after-care. Parents of older children have more “choices” available to them.

Photo by Matt Noble on Unsplash

But what about spouses without children? It turns out their lack of choice is laid bare. They work part-time because they “could only find part-time work” (27%).

“We don't have children yet,” said Heba Abdelaal. “When we talk about military spouse employment, the very first and maybe only challenge that is presented is ‘Well, child care is, the main or primary issue.’...But again, not having children yet that wasn't exactly the primary barrier that I experienced to employment, it was actually the fact that we're overseas.” 

And Abdelaal is not the only one whose workforce status was influenced by more than parenting. Before I married my husband, I was working at the Smithsonian and had been offered a full scholarship to obtain my PhD in art history. I had big plans to edit a museum magazine and fact-check scholarly journals in Italy. I quickly realized that I would not be able to find a job in my field if I were to have no control over where we lived. Like many career fields, mine was one where you go where the work is and work your way up a slow-moving ladder. Because my husband couldn’t quit the military, I “chose” to decline the scholarship and move to Pensacola, Florida where he was in flight school. 

I couldn’t pursue my dream job and we didn’t have kids, so we were free to “choose” to have an adventure and move OCONUS to Atsugi, Japan. On paper, it was absolutely my choice to risk being out of the workforce during this time, a time before remote work was a possibility. After Japan, we had no choice. We were told to go to Fallon, Nevada–an employment desert–where I was offered insultingly low salaries because “military spouses didn’t need to pay for their own rent or healthcare.” While I eventually found a great job it was a job, not a career.

We “chose” to go back to Japan because by then I had one toddler and was pregnant with our second child as we approached our PCS move. I knew finding a new job and affordable child care while six months pregnant would be next to impossible, so I “chose” to be out of the workforce again.

At every turn, my “choice” to be out of the workforce or be underemployed was a direct result of the confluence of military lifestyle factors I’m forced to consider as I make “choices” for my career and life.

If my husband and I did not have to move due to his military career, I would have chosen to pursue a job within my field. I would have had kids but been in my roles long enough to have legal protections to be able to return to work and have the opportunity to invest in my retirement savings. I may not have had the amazing adventures in both tours in Japan, but the ability to pursue a professional career would have been more of a choice.

Resources

Complete DoD Employment Data (including reasons military spouses are out of the workforce): https://www.opa.mil/research-analysis/spouse-family/military-spouse-survey-survey-reports-briefings/

National Military Spouse Network

Master List of Military Spouse Employment Resources

MDTC Summary

Here were the major themes covered in this Conversation:

1. Lack of Role Models and Success Stories: One military spouse points out the absence of visible role models in the military spouse community who have successfully balanced their careers with military life. This absence makes it harder for others to envision a successful career path while supporting a spouse in the military.

2. Segmenting the Military Spouse Demographic: The discussion emphasizes the importance of recognizing the different experiences within the military spouse community. For example, a spouse who marries young with limited education will face different challenges than one who marries later with advanced degrees and professional experience.

3. Childcare and Employment Decisions: Many military spouses face a difficult decision between working and staying home due to the high cost of childcare. This financial burden often forces them out of the workforce, leading to long gaps in employment and a subsequent struggle to reenter the job market. However, not all spouses have children, making employment discussions that focus on child care alone too narrow to be useful.

4. Underemployment: Military spouses often find themselves taking jobs below their qualifications due to frequent relocations, lack of local job opportunities, or the need to prioritize their spouse's military career. This results in frustration, as they see their professional peers advancing while they struggle to find meaningful work.

5. Overseas Challenges: For spouses stationed overseas, employment opportunities can be even more limited. The lack of jobs, coupled with legal and logistical barriers, creates significant obstacles to maintaining a career.

6. Data and Policy Improvements: The need for better data collection and policy interventions is a recurring theme. Spouses argue for more nuanced data that captures the diversity of experiences within the military spouse community. They also call for policies that address the specific needs of different groups, such as those living overseas or facing underemployment.

7. Cultural Misunderstandings and Stereotypes: Some spouses encounter stereotypes or low expectations from others, both within and outside the military community, about their employment potential. These misconceptions can limit opportunities and reinforce feelings of isolation or inadequacy.

The Conversation underscored the complexity of military spouse employment struggles and calls for more targeted solutions that account for the varying circumstances military spouses face.

Listen to the recording and see what did not make it into the article. Become a paid subscriber to watch the videos of the Conversation…