Veterans unemployment rate falls dramatically in April

The jobless rate for Post-9/11 veterans fell to 7.5 percent in April, a dramatic reduction that might be statistically invalid.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday the unemployment rate for veterans of all generations dropped to 6.2 percent in April, also a significant improvement.

Overall, the employment situation report shows the economy grew 165,000 jobs in April. That was not enough to make a major change in the national unemployment rate, which was 7.5 percent in April, just 1/10of a percentage point less than in March.

For veterans, the overall jobless rate for March was 7.1 percent. For Post-9/11 veterans, the jobless rate in March was 9.2 percent, with big gender differences. It was 8.7 percent for men and 11.8 percent for women.

The April report shows an unexplainable improvement for Post-9/11 women. For men of the Iraq and Afghanistan generation, the April jobless rate was 7.6 percent while for women the jobless rate was 7.2 percent. These differences are likely the result of Post-9/11 veterans making up a small part of the Labor Department’s sample and of women veterans of the Post-9/11-era being even a smaller group of those surveyed.

Modest reductions in unemployment are a nation-wide trend, according to the Labor Department. Of 372 metropolitan areas, the unemployment rates have dropped in 306 in the last year, increased in 44 and are unchanged in 22, according to a May 1 Labor Department report.

There are still 44 metropolitan areas were the unemployment rate is 10 percent or higher, but one year ago there were 66 areas with jobless rates that high.