Transferable skills for veterans continue to be a major factor driving up unemployment numbers for young vets. Like other unemployed young people, many have exited the job market and are enrolling in universities or other training programs, an attempt to wait out a poor employment market.

Each month the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes a report on the prior month’s employment and unemployment situation. Contained in that report are the BLS estimates of employment and unemployment in America’s military veterans, which the agency has tracked since 2008. No one has an accurate picture of the number of military veterans, and the Veterans Administration’s last official estimate dates from 2011. In that year, the VA thought that there were about 22,813,614 vets. As of the Nov. 2013 BLS report, the Department of Labor estimated that there were 21,276,000.

The Nov. 2013 employment situation report states that 51 percent of all veterans are in the labor force, working or looking for work. Of those vets in the labor force, 93 percent had jobs and 724,000 were unemployed. BLS estimates state that just over 9 million veterans are over age 65 and 7.2 million are no longer in the labor force, accounting for most of the veterans in that category.

At the other end of the age spectrum are America’s youngest veterans, categorized by the BLS as Gulf War II era veterans. This year’s economy has not been kind to this latest group who served their nation.

Gulf War II Era Veterans

Gulf War II vets saw their highest unemployment rate in Jan. 2011, 15.1 percent. The Nov. 2013 rate was 9.9 percent. 241,000 veterans of the Gulf War II era were unemployed in November. An additional 535,000 were no longer in the labor force.

From April through July, 2013, unemployment rates for these veterans were at or below national levels, averaging 7.4 percent for the four months. Since that time, unemployment has climbed, with 160,000 unemployed in June versus 241,000 in November. The government shutdown in October seems to have had little effect on this group, with unemployment rates from August through November running tenĀ  percent, 10.1 percent, ten percent and 9.9 percent.

Youngest Vets

The gloomy unemployment rates worsen when broken down by age. The youngest GWII vets are in the 18 to 24 age group. In November, their unemployment rate was 17.4 percent. Male vets in that category had a November unemployment rate of 24.8 percent. The number of unemployed is small, 24,000, but that hardly matters if you are one of them.

Half of all military veterans from the Gulf War II era are ages 25 to 34. The Nov. 2013 unemployment rate for this group was 11.7 percent. 153,000 were unemployed and 211,000 were not in the labor force. This age group showed the greatest unemployment numbers for female GWII vets, 37,000 unemployed, a 14.9 percent rate.

Civilians

For non-vets, the Nov. 2013 picture was brighter. Their unemployment rate was 6.4 percent. In the 18-24 age group, non-vets also had an advantage with an unemployment rate of 12.1 percent. Men in the 18-24 age group who have never served in the military had an unemployment rate of 13 percent. Women in the 25 to 34 age group had a rate of 7 percent.

CONCLUSION

What had been a positive, downward trend for Gulf War II era veterans in the spring has ended. The last several months suggest that the stagnant civilian economy has fewer openings for those leaving military service. The youngest of these unemployed veterans left the service after just one or two enlistments, or were separated. Many undoubtedly felt that the military was not for them. If they had any training while serving, they have little practical experience. Like their counterparts in civilian life, the struggle to find a job is complicated by limited translatable skills and no civilian job experience. Those veterans not in the labor force include the many who are taking advantage of educational and training benefits they earned through their service. These benefits allow veterans to improve their employment prospects while waiting for the economy to start to improve.

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Charles Simmins brings thirty years of accounting and management experience to his coverage of the news. An upstate New Yorker, he is a freelance journalist, former volunteer firefighter and EMT, and is owned by a wife and four cats.