In filling their armed forces, many countries rely on conscription, which interrupts conscripts’ labor market participation and accumulation of human capital. Thus, conscription likely affects one’s future earnings. In this paper, I investigate the effects of conscription eligibility in the Netherlands and in Italy on subsequent future earnings. I use a difference-in-difference method, using women as the counterfactual, on Luxembourg Income Study data to calculate the effects of conscription eligibility. I find no systematic earnings effects of conscription. While the existence of educational deferments increase the demand for postsecondary education and hence increase future earnings, factors like military culture, military philosophy, and jobs assigned to conscripts produce different results in the two countries. I find that the Dutch conscription increased (by 6-17%) eligible young men’s earnings while the Italian conscription had no effect or slightly decreased eligible young men’s earnings.

In the discussion of different integration solutions in Sweden, conscription usually appears. In Sweden, the conscription was disused from the year 2010 to the year 2017. When it was reintroduced in the year 2017 the conscription returned in a different context. Despite the argumentation for the conscription as a tool to increase social integration there have been no studies in Sweden examining this nor how people with foreign background experience the conscription in Sweden. Therefore this study aims to examine how people with foreign backgrounds experience conscription in Sweden and if and how they experience it as social integrative. The aim is also to examine if conscription can be used as a tool to increase social integration. Four interviews with Swedes who have foreign backgrounds and have completed the conscription constitute the empirical material. Socialization and social integration are the theoretical frameworks in this study. The material was analyzed with the thematic analytical method. The findings of the study revealed that two of the respondents experienced suspicion connected to their background during the muster. The respondents also expressed that they had unclear expectations of what the conscription would be like since they had no people in their closest circle who had completed the Swedish conscription. This may have led to a slight disadvantage during the beginning of the conscription. But overall the respondents had no negative experience during the conscription connected to their background and only positive experiences were highlighted. Furthermore, the findings of the study indicate that conscription in Sweden can be a tool to increase social integration. This was shown by the way the conscripts were treated equally and how they were formed to value the collective the highest. This also showed through the socialization process that the respondents underwent during conscription which had clear effects after the conscription as well.

[pt] O presente estudo versa sobre o ingresso de jovens no Serviço militar obrigatório no Brasil, frente às transformações do mundo do trabalho e o cenário de aumento do desemprego e do trabalho precário, especialmente, entre a juventude brasileira. Tal cenário é inerente ao modo de produção capitalista, agravado em decorrência das transformações políticas, econômicas e sociais no Brasil e no mundo, desde as três últimas décadas do século XX. A análise histórica sobre o recrutamento no Brasil evidencia que o serviço militar não está relacionado apenas ao ato de recrutar homens para defesa de um território. As múltiplas funções exercidas pelo recrutamento, desde o século XVI, refletem relações de poder e disputas que permeiam cada contexto histórico. A fim de analisar o serviço militar obrigatório e o contexto de desemprego entre os jovens, foi realizada uma pesquisa em questionários respondidos por jovens que ingressaram no serviço militar obrigatório - SMO, no Grupo de Segurança e Defesa do Rio de Janeiro - GSD-RJ, Organização Militar da Força Aérea Brasileira - FAB, nos anos de 2016, 2017 e 2018. Observouse, na análise dos questionários, que estes jovens desejavam o ingresso no recrutamento e que pertencem a uma classe social específica, apesar da previsão legal de todas as classes serem representadas na prestação do serviço militar. Além de características deste grupo relacionadas à escolaridade, composição e situação de trabalho familiar, a pesquisa revelou as motivações e expectativas dos recrutas em relação à Instituição militar. Apesar de não ser o único fator motivador, foi possível constatar que o interesse pelo ingresso nas Forças Armadas, ainda que de forma temporária, através do serviço militar obrigatório, não está dissociado da necessidade de ingresso ou permanência destes no mercado de trabalho. / [en] This study analyzes the young people admission into mandatory military service in Brazil, given the transformations in the labor world and the scenario of increased unemployment and precarious labor, especially among Brazilian youth. This scenario is inherent to the capitalist way of production, aggravated as a result of the political, economic and social transformations in Brazil and in the world since the last three decades of the 20th century. The historical analysis of recruitment in Brazil shows that military service is not only related to the act of recruiting men to defend a territory. The multiple functions performed by this instrument, since the 16th century, reflect power relations and disputes that permeate each historical context. In order to analyze mandatory military service and the context of unemployment among young people, a survey was conducted on questionnaires answered by those who entered mandatory military service - SMO, in the Rio de Janeiro Security and Defense Group - GSD-RJ, Military Organization of the Brazilian Air Force - FAB, in the years 2016, 2017 and 2018. It was observed, from questionnaires analysis, that these young people wanted to be recruited and that they belong to a specific social class, despite the legal definition of all classes being represented in the military service. In addition to the characteristics of this group related to education, composition and family employment situation, the research revealed the motivations and expectations of recruits in relation to the military institution. Despite not being the only motivating factor, it was found that the interest in joining the Armed Forces, even if temporarily, through mandatory military service, is not dissociated from their need to enter or remain in the labor market.