Not much progress for unemployed ‘Gulf War II Era’ veterans in 2013


By SB Anderson

Just under 1 in 10 of the 2.8 million U.S. veterans who have served since 9/11 remained out of work last year, with a 9% unemployment rate that was effectively the same as 2012 although it was numerically a little less. (Release, with links to detailed tables).

The Bureau of Labor Statistics in its Thursday release about the data cautioned that the new rates for male (8.8%) and female (9.6%) so-called “Gulf War II era” veterans “were not statistically different” from 2012. A year ago, the overall rate was 9.9%.

The overall 9% rate for Gulf War II veterans is just over one-third higher than the 6.6% for veterans as whole and one-fourth higher than non-veterans.

National Security Zone and On the Beat have aggregated veteran’s unemployment data back to 2006. That data is available for your use via this spreadsheet.

The new report also reported that twice as many of those most-recent recent veterans have service connected disabilities than all veterans — 29% vs. 15% as of August.

Gulf War II era veterans also reported more significant disability than other cohorts. Of those reporting a disability, 57% of Gulf War II veterans said they were 30% or more disabled compared to 47% for all veterans.

Of the Gulf War II veterans, about 40% reported having served in Afghanistan, Iraq or both. Those who served in both theaters had a slightly higher unemployment rate (13.3%) than those in only Iraq (10) and Afghanistan (12.3). The rate for those who served elsewhere: 10.9%.

Hispanic and Asian veterans from the most recent era had higher than average unemployment rates — 10.3% and 9.7% compared to 9% for White or African American.

The data was based on the monthly reports the bureau does through the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey of 60,000 households. It was supplemented by a special addition to the CPS in August that sought additional information about veterans.

Veteran disability

Gulf War I: Aug. 1990-Aug. 2001. Gulf War II: Sept. 2001 to present.

National Security Zone chart from Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

States with the highest, lowest veteran’s 2013 unemployment rates

States with most, least veteran unemployment

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statisctics