Overseas postings leave a quarter of military spouses unemployed.

Evidence

For spouses, too, frequent moves from base to base tend to interrupt their lives. Living in foreign countries where spouses typically can’t work in the local economy, many struggle to maintain careers outside the home despite spousal hiring preferences that help some. In 2012, the unemployment rate for spouses of active duty troops was 25 percent. When they do find work, military spouses tend to earn around 60 percent less than peers married to civilians. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 451

Categorization

• XREF: Relates to the reader’s work on how institutions impose hidden costs, consistent with the Frankfurt School material on invisible burdens.