Bases provide hosts mostly low-wage local jobs while higher-skilled work goes to Americans.

Evidence

Baumholder also shows how the golden years often fade. As the dollar weakened relative to the mark, soldiers’ economic impact declined. Meanwhile, with the West German “economic miracle” taking off in the late 1950s, better jobs—especially for women—appeared than those available on and around the bases. Often, most on-base jobs available to locals are relatively low-skill, low-wage positions, such as janitorial and landscaping staff. Other off-base employment supported in part by a base presence appears in the service sector or the construction and industrial trades, but the vast majority of higher-skill, higher-wage jobs go to U.S. military personnel and U.S. civilians. From the perspective of the local community, most of the people working on foreign bases are, of course, foreigners—so bases offer far fewer jobs than their sprawling size might suggest. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 916