Unemployment for younger vets dips in November - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Unemployment for younger vets dips in November

The job market appears to have worsened for veterans overall in November, but it has slightly improved for young veterans, according to Labor Department data released Friday.

For all veterans, the unemployment rate was 8.6 percent in November, lower than the national unemployment rate of 9.8 percent for the month but higher than the 8.3 percent rate for veterans recorded in October.

The job market continues to be harder for young veterans than older ones, but there has been some improvement. For veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan era, the November unemployment rate is 10 percent, a drop from 10.6 percent in October and very close to the national unemployment rate.

The national unemployment rate rose from 9.6 percent in October, a sign of continued economic problems and very little growth in the number of available jobs. The Labor Department reports a net increase of just 39,000 jobs across the U.S. in November. Increases in health care and temporary services employment were offset by declines in retail and manufacturing, according to Keith Hall, head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the arm of the Labor Department that tracks unemployment.

One sign of problems: Hourly wages increased an average of 1 cent in November, Hall said. In the last 12 months, wages have increased 1.6 percent.