While America's overall unemployment rate has dropped to a
19-month low, the jobless rate among young military veterans
continues to rise.
Bureau of Labor Statistics figures released January 7, 2011, showed
a national unemployment rate of 9.4 percent in December -- a drop
of 0.4 percent from the previous month.
Conversely, unemployment among those who have served in the Armed
Forces since September 2001 rose from 10 percent in November to
11.7 percent in December.
Disheartening trend
"This disheartening trend demonstrates the continuing difficulty
that veterans, especially young ones, are having in finding work in
a job market composed primarily of non-veterans," said Jimmie
Foster, national commander of The American Legion.
Foster said young veterans face job-seeking hardships for a number
of reasons.
Despite having specialized skills, it seems many young vets are just as qualified to work as civilian job-seekers.
Comparable skills
Most Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are men, 25 to 34 years old.
Forty-six percent have some college education or an associate's
degree, compared with 28 percent of their non-veteran
counterparts.
The Bureau of Labor
Statistics reports that "veterans from Gulf War-era II were
much less likely to be high school dropouts (2 percent) than were
non-veterans (14 percent)."
"Clearly, young veterans are very attractive job candidates,"
Foster said. "And part of what The American Legion does is to
communicate that fact to potential employers at job fairs, small
business workshops, and other events we sponsor that help veterans
get back into the civilian work force."
Job fairs
The American Legion, in partnership with RecruitMilitary.com, conducts a number of veterans job
fairs nationwide throughout the year.
Events are scheduled this month in Ft. Walton Beach, Fla. (13th),
Tampa (20th) and Nashville (25th). A Legion-sponsored small
business development workshop for veteran entrepreneurs who wish to
do business with the federal government is set for March 22 in
Washington.
