Meredith Kleykamp | Scholars Strategy Network

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About Meredith

Kleykamp’s research focuses on participation in the military as a unique labor market institution, and on the role of organized labor in ethno-racial and gender inequalities. Current projects include an analysis of the broad consequences of military service over the past 50 years, labor union decline for American workers, and an investigation into cultural discourse around contemporary veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Kleykamp recently served on the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on the Readjustment Needs of Service Members, Veterans and their Families.

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | In the News | Publications

Contributions

How the Decline of Unions Has Increased Racial Inequality

Jake Rosenfeld

Key Findings Brief, August 2013

In the News

Quoted by James Clark in "Years Later, Post-9/11 Veterans’ Lives are Still Hampered by Physical and Mental Injuries," Task and Purpose, November 10, 2015.

Opinion: "Lost Unions and Lost Ground," Meredith Kleykamp (with Jake Rosenfeld), Los Angeles Times, September 9, 2013.

Guest on CSPAN’s Washington Journal, May 25, 2012.

Publications

"The War at Home: Attitudes toward Veterans Returning from Iraq" (with Alair MacLean). Social Problems (forthcoming).

Explores how, although the general public appears to stereotype veterans and contractors who served in Iraq as having problems with mental health, substance abuse and violence, they do not hold discriminatory attitudes toward such men.

"Unemployment, Earnings and Enrollment among Post 9/11 Veterans" Social Science Research 42, no. 3 (2013): 836-851.

Shows that veterans from the Post-9/11 generation face employment challenges, but those employed appear to out-earn their civilian peers. Female veterans appear to suffer a steeper employment penalty than male veterans, but black veterans appear to suffer less of a penalty than white veterans.

"Organized Labor and Racial Wage Inequality in the United States" (with Jake Rosenfeld). American Journal of Sociology 117, no. 5 (2012): 1460-1502.

Finds that organized labor was vital in supporting African-American wages, and in reducing black-white wage gaps – especially among female workers.

"Where Did the Soldiers Go? The Effects of Military Downsizing on College Enrollment and Employment" Social Science Research 39, no. 3 (2010): 477-490.

Shows that the constriction of opportunities to serve in the military did not have negative effects on employment among black men, but rather appeared to be associated with increasing rates of college going.

"Hispanics and Organized Labor in the United States, 1973-2007" (with Jake Rosenfeld). American Sociological Review 74, no. 6 (2009): 916-937.

Questions whether the recent, well-publicized unionization campaigns of Hispanics and Hispanic immigrants have helped revitalize the labor movement. We find that certain Hispanic subpopulations are more likely to belong to unions than non-immigrant whites. However, all populations’ unionization propensities have dropped precipitously in recent decades.

"A Great Place to Start? The Effect of Prior Military Service on Hiring" Armed Forces & Society 35, no. 2 (2009): 266-285.

Offers an experimental audit study of hiring that finds that employers exhibit preferential treatment of black military veterans with transferable skills over black nonveterans. Veterans with traditional military experience in the combat arms do not experience preferential treatment by employers, regardless of racial/ethnic background.

"College, Jobs or the Military? Enlistment during a Time of War" Social Science Quarterly 87, no. 2 (2006): 272-290.

Demonstrates that voluntary military enlistment during wartime is associated with college aspirations, lower socioeconomic status, and living in an area with a high military presence.