June unemployment rates rise for veterans - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

June unemployment rates rise for veterans

The unemployment rate for veterans rose slightly in June, to 8 percent overall and 11.5 percent for Iraq and Afghanistan-era veterans, a sign that expanding programs aimed at helping veterans find work are not working in a stagnant job market.

June employment statistics released Friday by the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics show the overall unemployment rate for veterans rose slightly from 7.8 percent in May. Still, the unemployment rate for veterans remains lower than the overall national rate of 9.5 percent.

The national rate shows a slight improvement over the 9.8 percent unemployment rate reported for May. The Labor Department report shows, however, an overall decline in the number of jobs in the U.S. after only about 83,000 new jobs were created in the private sector and the federal government eliminated 225,000 temporary positions for Census workers.

For Iraq and Afghanistan-era veterans, many of whom are entering or re-entering the job market after overseas deployments, the June unemployment rate is 11.5 percent, up from 10.6 percent in May.

Month-to-month changes in jobless rates for veterans can fluctuate significantly because veterans make up a small portion of the Labor Department’s survey, but the trend in recent months has been one of modest improvements. The June numbers are much improved over March, especially for Iraq and Afghanistan-era veterans, who had an unemployment rate of 14.7 percent then.

June unemployment numbers for veterans appear to show that men who left the military since 2001 are doing better than women in finding work. For new male veterans, the unemployment rate for June is 10.8 percent, compared with 15.5 percent for new female veterans. Previously, the rate was about equal for new male and female veterans.