Veterans Affairs committee  I would be pretty specific about perhaps even doing focus groups with some of those groups, and maybe separately, as well, because there are a few things we don't understand. LASS is a great resource, but it's quantitative research. There hasn't been a lot of qualitative research done with those groups to better understand their satisfaction with their employment and their bumpy road post-release back to parity in terms of earnings, and why they are moving so often between employers in the first few years.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes. One of the areas that are very important in the employment world is work disability. That's very complicated, so I tried to give a little bit about evidence-based interventions to prevent work disability, but one of the things that women, older veterans and those with disabilities experience is ageism, sexism and ableism all combined.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's a great question. I don't know the answer to it, but I think you did allude to their having poorer outcomes. Part of recruitment is about the experiences of others and recommendations to join the military or not to join the military based on their own experiences.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's still true. Earnings recovery is lower among people with high disability ratings. There are quite a few of the population who were at both ends. It is intuitive.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  I believe so, yes, if my memory serves me. That is a paper I wrote.

Veterans Affairs committee  I wouldn't say that there's a gold standard. As I mentioned, the U.K. has put quite a bit of effort into employment after release. They recently did a few evaluations of their program. One of them showed that they weren't providing a lot of services to probably the most vulnerable, who are those who had very few years of service in the military, because it was based more on eligibility criteria than on need.

Veterans Affairs committee  Officers, as I mentioned, are much more likely to be satisfied with their jobs, and it may be related—actually, it is related—to their use of their skills. That is an important factor contributing to satisfaction with civilian employment. In terms of the army, combat arms in particular is the least transferrable in terms of skills.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, for sure. Whether veterans feel that they are using the skills they acquired in the military in the civilian world is important to their satisfaction, but it's not necessarily related to the occupation. For instance, women are much more likely to be in a transferable occupation with administrative types of tasks or in health care, which are directly transferable to a national occupation, let's say, but they are much less likely than men to agree that their skills are being used.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, I would say it would be something. All of what I spoke to today is published information in peer-reviewed literature or, for instance, the NATO work was a peer-reviewed, published, edited book. It would be great if all programs and services were based on the evidence. I'm sure, because I conducted most of this research before I retired from Veterans Affairs, they do have access to this information, and I'm sure it will be part of the strategy.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to you about this important topic. I will be speaking to you today about findings on veteran employment from research I led during my time as a researcher with Veterans Affairs Canada. This research uses data from the life after service studies, or LASS, as well as findings from research conducted by NATO on military to civilian transition.