Unemployment Figures Released for GWOT Vets

Unemployment among male veterans aged 18-to-24 who have served during the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was 12 percent in 2007, twice what it was for their comrades in the next-older group surveyed, vets aged 25 to 34.

In all, according to figures just released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate among all vets serving since the start of the Global War on Terror on Sept. 11, 2001 -- designated Gulf War II-era veterans by the bureau – was 6.1 percent.

The bureau, a part of the Department of Labor, culled the data from a monthly sample survey of about 60,000 households. But in August 2007 the bureau included a supplement to the monthly Current Population Survey specifically to garner more information on veterans, according to a bureau news release.

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The supplement was co-sponsored by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Labor Department’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service.

Among the findings of the survey:

The unemployment rate among male vets aged 18-24 was 11.2 percent, which is only slightly higher than the 10.5 percent of non-veteran civilians in the same group.

Among women vets in the same age group, the unemployment rate was 16.8 percent; it was 7.6 percent among vets 35-44.

Gulf War II-era vets currently or past members of the Reserve or National Guard had an unemployment rate of 2.6 percent, compared to 8.1 percent among those who did not serve in the reserve components.

The unemployment rate for disabled vets – surveyed as part of the August 2007 survey supplement – was 3.4 percent, nearly the same as the 3.5 percent for nondisabled vets that month.

About 1.5 million veterans have served during Gulf War II-era, the bureau states.

The bureau also concluded that nearly one-third of employed Gulf War II-era male vets are working in management, professional and related occupation, about the same proportion as men with no military service.

Among female Gulf War II-era vets, nearly 40 percent are employed in management and professional occupations, and another 33 percent in sales and office jobs, the bureau found.

“As with all period-of-service groups, men accounted for the vast majority (84 percent),” the news release says.

But the proportion of women serving in Gulf War II is higher than in earlier wars.