A new report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on veterans’ employment shows that the job market is still challenging for post-Sept. 11, 2001 servicemen and women.
Though unemployment for all veterans is 6.6%—in line with the national average of 6.7%—the BLS finds that 9% of veterans who served in the Gulf War-era remain unemployed. This comes despite public and private sector efforts to improve their hiring outlook. According to the BLS, that translates to roughly 200,000 unemployed veterans total.
Unemployment for this era of veterans lags behind the national average. However, the national average has improved to 6.7% from 7.9% at the conclusion of 2012, whereas the unemployment rate of post-9/11 veterans was 9.9% through 2012.
Efforts to improve the hiring landscape include the Returning Heroes Tax Credit, part of the Veterans Opportunity to Work to Hire Heroes Act of 2011. The Returning Heroes Tax Credit pays “40% of the first $6,000 of wages” to any employer that hires a veteran who has “been unemployed at least four weeks.”
An important key, says HireAHero.org executive director Rob Barr, is getting veterans the proper training for available jobs.