Veterans Creating 'Good Jobs': The Propensity of Veteran-Owned Small Businesses to Use Service as a Frame of Reference in Providing Non-Monetary Benefits to Their Employees

Self-employment has been intensively studied as an alternative for military veterans to the traditional labor market. There is limited research on the subset of military veteran entrepreneurs that are employers. Building benchmarks for resilient veteran-owned small businesses that are also employers requires a more robust understanding of what veterans become employers, how they treat their employees, and how a broader entrepreneurial ecosystem supports this sociological action. Employers' decision to offer benefits like health insurance can create an enormous financial and administrative burden. Recent literature suggests that exposure to a military culture (like support for the collective) may lead veteran owners to overlook the economic costs to support their employees' personal needs. In this way, military veteran entrepreneurs create 'good jobs' for members of their community. Using a public microdata sample, we find that small, veteran-owned businesses are more likely to offer their employees benefits. There is also the potential for variation across demographic, temporal, and spatial characteristics in the future w/ administrative microdata.