Post-9/11 vets unemployment dips in April - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

Post-9/11 vets unemployment dips in April

Friday’s Labor Department announcement that the U.S. economy grew 295,000 jobs in April includes some good news for post-9/11 veterans, whose unemployment rate dropped to 13.1 percent.

That is down from 14.7 percent reported in March for what the Labor Department describes as Gulf War-era II veterans, but it is still well above the April 2009 rate of 10.3 percent.

For veterans of all generations, the April unemployment rate was 9.1 percent, lower than the 9.9 percent national rate. While veterans are doing better overall than nonveterans, the job market still remains tougher today than one year ago, when the rate for all veterans was 8.5 percent.

For one group of veterans — those who served during the 1991 Gulf War — the April report shows dramatic improvement. In 2009, the unemployment rate for that generation of veterans was 9.7 percent; last month, it dropped to 8.1 percent.

Dramatic changes in the unemployment rates for veterans can result from the use of small sample sizes.

Both the Obama administration and Congress are working on initiatives aimed at helping veterans find jobs.

One of the biggest attempts is a Senate bill, S 3234, sponsored by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., that tackles job training, placement services and small business programs. Her bill was referred to the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, on which she serves, for consideration.