Making Ends Meet: Employment, Cash Transfers, and Poverty in Post–9/11 Era Wounded Military Veterans.

This article focuses on the financial outcomes of wounded post–9/11 era U.S. military veterans, examining associations between poverty, deep poverty, income sources, and demographic, military, and mental health characteristics using data from the 2018 Wounded Warrior Survey (n = 33,067). Findings indicate that 17% of respondents lived below the poverty threshold, with 75% of those in deep poverty, and that employment—whether full- or part-time—did not significantly protect against poverty. In contrast, receipt of cash transfers, including Veterans Affairs (VA) disability compensation and other government benefits, was strongly associated with substantially lower odds of both poverty and deep poverty across employment statuses. The study highlights the critical role of cash transfers in mitigating financial hardship among wounded veterans and suggests that policy efforts should focus on ensuring timely and adequate access to these benefits to prevent severe economic distress.