One could easily argue that military veterans, especially those who enlisted voluntarily during wartime, answered their country’s call. Whether it was a call-to-arms or simply the call to defend the homeland, they answered it and did not expect much in return. Expectations aside, the benefits offered to veterans are well-known: help with home loans, healthcare, education, and all that sweet camouflage.
For Post-9/11 veterans, there was the added benefit of a genuinely thankful population. Despite the anti-war clamor on Capitol Hill and the political stumps across America, never did that ire bleed over into the veteran population. Civilians bought us dinner or let us have a seat in first class.
Yet, this new generation of veterans came with a new generation of problems. Suicide rates skyrocketed to record-breaking levels. Veterans across the country were finding themselves on the wrong side of the law, typically abusing substances and sometimes facing decades-long prison sentences. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is still backlogged, the bureaucracy choking on the number of veterans in need and helping only a fraction of those.
The most glaring slight, was that US companies were seemingly doing all they could to avoid hiring veterans. Part of the problem was that soldiers were often ill-equipped to best advertise their worth to the civilian world. Rather than tout their service, they chose to remain humble. In many cases, their work in the military didn’t seem to translate to the world of widgets and TPS reports. However over the past few years, hundreds of organizations have come forward to help veterans transition from the military to the civilian world. These groups often match-up veterans and hiring managers, typically from companies that recognized the 2.8-million-strong Post-9/11 veteran demographic as an untapped resource.
In 2011, the number of unemployed veterans was 12.1 percent, almost four points higher than the average for non-veterans. By July of 2012, thanks to job initiatives by both the government and the private sector, that number had fallen to under ten percent for the fourth month in a row.
June 2013 numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show unemployed veterans at just 6.3 percent compared to 7.5 percent for non-veterans. Even post 9/11 veterans unemployment rate fell slightly below the civilian unemployment rate to 7.2 percent, down from 9.5 percent a year earlier. The 2012 unemployment rate for non-veterans was 8.1 percent.
It seems that when it came to hiring unemployed veterans, it was America’s turn to answer the call. Female veterans, however, still lag their male counterparts with a 7.6 percent unemployment rate for all female veterans, but a striking 8.9 percent unemployment rate for post 9/11 female veterans, many of whom are also single mothers struggling to raise their families alone.
With the continued — very public — push to hire veterans, young, male veterans have been hired at a faster rate than any other group. If this trend continues, the number of unemployed veterans could continue below the national average. While this isn’t yet a victory in the “war on veteran unemployment,” it certainly shows movement in the right direction.
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