April unemployment data is mixed news for vets - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

April unemployment data is mixed news for vets

The employment picture for veterans improved in April — a sign that efforts to encourage employers to hire veterans may be working — but jobs seem to remain elusive for young, male combat veterans.

Overall, the nation’s unemployment rate for April was 9 percent, up from 8.8 percent in March, according to a Friday report from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. About 13.7 million Americans were unemployed, roughly the same number as in March despite the addition of 244,000 jobs in the retail, hospitality, professional and business services, and health care industries.

For veterans, the overall unemployment rate dropped in April to 7.7 percent, down from 9 percent the previous month.

But for younger veterans — those who served on active-duty since the 2001 terrorist attacks — the unemployment rate remained unchanged, at 10.9 percent, with a large gap between men and women. For women veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan era, the unemployment rate is 6.9 percent for April. For men of the same era, the unemployment rate is 11.7 percent.

The Defense and Labor departments are overhauling their transition programs aimed at helping separating service members find jobs.

John Campbell, the deputy assistant defense secretary responsible for transition programs, told the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee in April that programs aimed at helping service members find post-service jobs had “been in place for nearly two decades without major enhancements,” and were now being re-engineered to include more personalized content, some of it self-service, so it could be tailored to a service member’s particular skills and desires.

Additionally, Campbell said the training is being improved for the staff of transition program so they are better equipped to answer questions.

The Labor Department also is redesigning its employment workshop “to make it more relevant to service members and spouses” and the VA also is updating its programs, Campbell said.