Unemployment Rate for New Veterans Jumps Again
The unemployment rate for so-called 9/11 veterans -- servicemen and women who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan -- has taken a depressing turn for the worse, according to new government data.
These recent veterans, who already suffer much higher jobless rates than either other veterans or the national average, saw that gap widen in May, the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee said Friday.
The unemployment rate for 9/11 veterans rose to 12.1 percent at the end of May (the latest date for which data were available) from 10.9 percent at the end of April. The unemployment rate for non-veterans remained unchanged at 8.5 percent, according to the report. (Seasonally adjusted figures put the total U.S. unemployment rate at 9.1 percent for May.)
See the chart, courtesy of the congressional committee, below; the dark blue bar shows the post-9/11 veterans:
The latest figures confirm what the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) told MoneyWatch last week in a post about out the unemployment rate for 9/11 veterans.
The unemployment rate for 9/11 veterans "generally trends more than three percentage points higher than the national average, and spikes to nearly 20 percent for male veterans ages 18 to 24," Matt Gallagher, IAVA spokesman and a former Army captain, told us via email.
More troubling are the state-by-state numbers: In many spots, the unemployment rate for 9/11 veterans is three times higher than the state's overall level. In Michigan, for example, 9/11 veterans suffer an unemployment rate of nearly 30 percent vs. slightly more than 10 percent for the state's broader population.
"As we observe Independence Day, we must keep in mind those who have fought for the security of our country and we must ensure that we are doing everything possible to help veterans finds jobs when they return home and begin the next chapter of their lives," said Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), committee chairman, in a press release.
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user Joshuashearn.
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