Executive Summary

This study was conducted at the request of the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Personnel Support, Families and Education (ODASD/PSF&E;). This office asked the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) to conduct a survey of non-military spouses of military members in paygrades E5 and below to identify effective strategies to assist these spouses as they pursue employment.

The specific objectives of this study were to provide 1) a demographic and employment-related profile of spouses of junior enlisted members and 2) an evaluation of spouse Employment Assistance Program (EAP) services, policies, and procedures. The Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force each offer separate yet similar spouse employment programs. Such programs aim to enhance retention of married military personnel by lessening some of the difficulties caused by frequent moves between duty stations.

The 1997 Survey of Spouses of Enlisted Personnel was designed to explore junior enlisted spouses’ perceptions of employment-related issues. Spouse focus groups and EAP project manager interviews were conducted to identify specific subject areas for inclusion in the survey instrument. A sample of 23,162 spouses was selected from a list of 355,629 married active-duty service members in paygrades E1 through E5 worldwide. The response rate was 44%.

The vast majority (95%) of the spouses said that they had at least a high school diploma or an equivalent certificate. About half (49%) lived in military housing. Just over half (53%) were married to military members ranked E5. A large majority (82%) of spouses lived in the contiguous states or the District of Columbia. Only 5% of spouses were male.

About three quarters of spouses had children living at home with them. One half (50%) of spouses with children at home spent money on child care, and close to one-half (46%) of these spent from $51 to $100 per week. Two out of three spouses (67%) at least occasionally experienced "some difficulty" making ends meet. About two fifths (41%) of spouses married to members ranked E3 or below characterized their financial situation as "tough to make ends meet" or "in over my head," as did one third (33%) of E4 spouses and over one fourth (28%) of E5 spouses.

Spouses were active in the employment market. Only 9% of spouses did not express a desire to work and had neither worked nor sought work in the last year. Of the remaining 91% who were in the labor force in the past year or who wanted or needed employment, 39% were currently employed full-time, 24% were currently employed part-time, another 24% were not employed but seeking employment, and 13% were neither employed nor seeking employment currently. One third of the spouses who were working wanted to work more hours per week.

Spouses who said they had been employed or had looked for employment during the past year, or who said they wanted or needed to work for pay, were asked why. Most of these spouses indicated they wanted or needed to work to save money for the future (83%) or to get money for basic expenses (81%).

One third of all spouses said they had done volunteer work during the previous year. Spouses employed part-time (36%) and those not employed but seeking employment (34%) were more likely than others were to have volunteered in the last 12 months.

About half (52%) of working spouses thought their qualifications matched the work they did in their current jobs. Of the spouses’ current jobs, 31% were clerical, 15% were professional, managerial or administrative, and 14% fit the service category (e.g., waiter/waitress, practical nurse, or private household worker).

Of the spouses who sought work at their current location, a majority began their job search either before they moved there (19%) or less than one month after their move (34%). Nearly half (46%) of employed spouses reported finding their primary job less than one month after they started their job search.

Of the jobs spouses held when they filled out the survey, 36% were found by directly contacting employers, 28% through information provided by friends or relatives, and 21% from answering help wanted advertisements. Only 7% were found through the Employment Assistance Program (EAP).

Spouses faced barriers in their efforts to enter or remain in the job market. Three fifths (61%) had a major problem finding affordable child care. Almost one fourth (23%) of spouses said that conflicts between work and parental or family responsibilities were a major problem. One in six (17%) said lack of skills or training for available jobs was a major problem.

Spouses were also asked to agree or disagree with statements related to difficulties they might face in seeking work. Almost half either agreed (15%) or agreed strongly (30%) that the relocation to a new area with their military spouses had interfered with their job advancement. About three out of ten spouses (29%) indicated that they did not know how to prepare a good résumé. Only 14% of spouses indicated that they did not know how to find job openings.

Assessment of the EAP was greatly hampered by the findings that, of those spouses who were working, wanting to work or looking for work, 60% did not know about EAP services in the area in which they lived, and only 10% had used an EAP service in the previous year. EAP use was even lower among spouses who had neither completed high school nor earned an equivalent certificate. The service most widely used, by far, was the job-openings list. Of the 10% who reported using EAP services, 72% used the job-openings list.

Of the spouses who had used the job-openings list, 66% rated it as useful, 28% rated it as not useful, and 6% were not sure. The top-ranked EAP service was the use of word processing equipment for such tasks as résumé preparation and job applications. This equipment was described as useful by 87% of the spouses who had used it. Other services that could quickly yield concrete outcomes were also generally described as useful by those who had received the service. These services included advice on how to dress for a job interview (86%), training in how to interview for a job (85%), help in completing job application forms (83%), and training in job skills such as word processing (82%). When spouses who had used EAP services were asked how satisfied they were with the EAP program they had used most recently, however, only 37% were satisfied or very satisfied and 31% were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied.

Overall, users of an EAP most often learned about it from their military spouses (34%) and welcome packets (29%). However, 39% of spouses in Japan, Korea, Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy learned about the EAP from military television.

Spouses who were employed full- or part-time were asked if their current primary job made use of their skills and training. Just over half (53%) of these jobs made use of the spouses’ skills and training to a large extent, and 33% did so to a minor extent. Among employed spouses, those most likely to use their skills and training to a large extent were married to E5 personnel (56%), or had at least a four-year college degree (60%).

This study found that two thirds of spouses of military members in paygrades E5 and below at least occasionally experienced difficulty making ends meet. Most of these spouses wanted or needed to work, usually at least in part to save money for the future and to get money for basic expenses. Thus motivated, many spouses quickly sought and found employment at their new locations despite such barriers as difficulty finding affordable child care. However, the majority of spouses in the employment market did not find a job that made much use of their skills and training.

Very few spouses used any EAP service. Accordingly, very few spouses found their jobs through the EAP. Among spouses who were working, wanting to work, or seeking employment, a majority did not know of EAP services in the area in which they currently lived. Thus, lack of knowledge hampered the use and the assessment of EAP services. There is, therefore, a need to expand spouses’ awareness of the Employment Assistance Programs. There is also a need to determine why almost one third of those who did use the EAP were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the program.

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