Military Positions and Post-Service Occupational Mobility of Union Army Veterans, 1861-1880

Abstract

Although the Civil War has attracted a great deal of scholarly attention, little is known about how different wartime experiences of soldiers influenced their civilian lives after the war. This paper examines how military rank and duty of Union Army soldiers while in service affected their post-service occupational mobility. Higher ranks and non-infantry duties appear to have provided more opportunities for developing skills, especially those required for white-collar jobs. Among the recruits who were unskilled workers at the time of enlistment, commissioned and non-commissioned officers were much more likely to move up to a white-collar job by 1880. Similarly, unskilled recruits who had served on white-collar military duties were more likely to enter a white-collar occupation by 1880. The higher occupational mobility of higher-ranking soldiers is likely to have resulted from disparate human capital accumulations offered by their military positions rather than from their superior abilities.

An Empirical Examination of the Occupational Attainment of American Veterans of World War I

“…In general, our results are consistent with Fredland and Little's () “Bridging Hypothesis” whereby certain experiences associated with military service (wider geographic perspective, social/professional networks, experience with large organizations) can lead to greater postservice labor market success. Our findings are also consistent with Lee's studies (, ) of American Civil War Union veterans, which find higher levels of upward occupational mobility than comparable nonveterans, and with Laschever's () conclusion that social networks formed in the military subsequently improved the employment prospects of WWI veterans. In the context of other research, our results are complementary to studies that find wage premiums for military service.…”

“…For example, Fredland and Little's () study of WWII veterans suggests that military service augments a veterans' human capital by providing them with geographic mobility and knowledge, personal independence, education, training, and experience in dealing with large bureaucratic structures. This additional human capital enhances their postservice job prospects, a process Fredland and Little refer to as the “Bridging Hypothesis.” Using similar reasoning to Fredland and Little, Lee's (, ) studies of Union veterans of the American Civil War found that they benefited from wider social and professional networks than nonveterans because they served with men from across the country. Lee's empirical results suggest that a broader geographical perspective of the United States, along with skills acquired during military service, made it more likely for Union veterans to experience postwar upward occupational mobility into higher paying jobs.…”

Union Army Veterans, All Grown Up

“…Since the 1990s, scholars have pursued a variety of other important research topics made possible by the Union Army data. These include the benefits of social networks (Costa and Kahn 2007a, 2007b; labor force participation and retirement (Costa 1998;Lee 1998Lee , 2001Lee , 2007; the relationship between wealth accumulation, economic mobility and health (Lee 2005(Lee , 2008; marriage patterns (Hacker 2008); survival in urban environments (Cain and Hong, 2009); extreme aging (Costa and Lahey, 2005); and the epidemiology, social ecology, and economic consequences of important diseases, such as arteriosclerosis (Costa, Helmchen and Wilson 2005), arthritis (Canavese and Fogel 2009), malaria (Hong 2007), and chronic respiratory disease (Wilson 2003).…”

Health, Information, and Migration: Geographic Mobility of Union Army Veterans, 1860–1880

“…Wounds and illnesses in general also had modest but significant effects on the distance of migration, diminishing it by, respectively, 34 miles and 54 miles (wounds and illnesses in column 1), or 8 percent and 12 percent of the sample average distance of migration (448 miles). 43 Wartime wounds and illnesses affected different aspects of geographic mobility. Contracting any disease while in service had a strong negative effect on the distance of migration among migrants as well as the probability of leaving the place of origin.…”