Military spouses are better educated than ever before, but rather than helping increase family income, their additional qualifications are often an impediment to greater earning power.
Between 35% and 50% of military spouses work in fields that require occupational licenses or certifications, which are not always recognized when couples move to a new state or country. With the constant moves military life requires, the difficulty drastically increases. Lawyers and teachers are some of the hardest hit, but thanks to the work of advocacy groups across the country, they are seeing some relief from federal and state governments.
Karen Scarlan, a lawyer married to a now-retired Army officer, knows the employment difficulties faced by military spouses firsthand. She met her husband right after passing the Illinois bar exam. As the relationship got serious, she couldn't help but think of her career.
"[I]n the back of my head was: How do I marry somebody who's active duty and be a lawyer?" Scarlan told the Washington Examiner.
Illinois law licenses had reciprocity in some states, but they often weren't recognized until lawyers had several years of experience. Scarlan's husband was able to get an extension to stay in Illinois so she could get reciprocity.
"However, he pulled Florida, which does not have reciprocity with anyone," Scarlan said.
These situations are common in the military, which requires many troops and their families to move every two to three years.
"When people are thinking about moving to another state, whether or not they'll need a new license and how difficult that process will be is a factor," Shoshana Weissmann, a fellow with the R Street Institute who specializes in occupational licensing reform, told the Washington Examiner. "But when military servicemen and women serve our country, we make them move and put their spouses out of work. Military spouses were 10 times as likely to have moved to a new state in the past year than the average American."
Unable to practice law, Scarlan decided to find out what she could do to fix the problem. That's how she got her start with the Military Spouse JD Network, a group that advocates for special licensing accommodations for military spouses with law licenses. So far, 37 states have instituted special accommodations, with efforts underway in nine others.
Maria Campbell, the network's communications director, was one of the beneficiaries of these rule changes. After graduating from Loyola Law School in 2015, she got licensed in her home state of California, but since Californian law licenses have no reciprocity, she couldn't practice when her husband got orders to move.
"[W]e had lived in two other states where I couldn't practice law before we ended up in Tennessee," Campbell told the Washington Examiner.
Tennessee had adopted regulations allowing military spouses with law licenses in other states to practice just months prior to Campbell's move. Before that, she would have had to spend a significant amount of time and money to retake the bar exam when she moved. Law students spend months studying and preparing for the bar, so retaking it every two or three years would have been a burden.
"So I ended up taking advantage of the military spouse rule here so that I can practice and have been for the past three years very grateful for that," Campbell said.
Teachers have experienced similar problems, even though some states are suffering from a severe shortage. License transfers can cost hundreds of dollars, and some states require teachers with decades of experience to retake exams. A number of states have made exceptions similar to those given to lawyers, but they are the exception, not the rule.
And licensing is just half the battle. The MSJDN estimates not even one-third of its members have full-time legal employment, with half of members unemployed, underemployed in paralegal or secretary positions, or working on a part-time basis.
The financial and personal struggles that result when a spouse can't find work add to the military's ongoing retention problem.
"It is hands down a national security imperative," Elizabeth O’Brien, senior director of the military spouse program at Hiring Our Heroes, a U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation initiative, told the Washington Examiner. "Any time somebody separates and it's because their spouse wants employment, you can tie it back to a form of national security, and it impacts readiness."
Military spouses are unemployed at four times the rate of civilians, and those seeking employment are unemployed for about four months every time they move. The average military member will move every two to three years, and that lost time and salary can add up significantly over the typical 20-year military career. Even when spouses find jobs, they earn $12,000 less than their civilian colleagues, losing nearly $190,000 over their careers.
Spouses and advocate groups say financial considerations play a major role in whether a service member will continue to serve the country.
"So we are basically still in the state of recession that the rest of America emerged from years ago. It's unbelievably challenging," O'Brien said. "When you look at the fact that a majority of of American families are dual income ... this isn't just about the opportunity to work, we need to work so that we can be on par with the rest of America."
Some legislators recognize the problem and have put forward plans to help solve it. Senators Tom Cotton, Arkansas Republican, and Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire Democrat, introduced the Portable Certification of Spouses Act in May, which would provide funding to help states establish universal standards for occupational licenses.
The National Defense Authorization Act for 2020, passed earlier this year, included Shaheen and Cotton's bill. It also included provisions that reimburse the cost of obtaining new licenses after a move and an Department of Defense account that provides scholarships for educational benefits.
Advocates say there is a great deal of room for improvement, especially when the issue is viewed through the lens of national security.
"[W]hen you look at the fact that we are an all-volunteer force, we can't afford to lose our best and brightest service members because of unemployment issues that impact their spouses," O'Brien said.
2019-09-02 04:01:00Z
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/national-security-imperative-military-spouses-struggle-to-find-employment
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