Veterans’ job numbers improve in May p1 - Military Transition - Military Times EDGE

The job market for veterans appears to be improving, with the veterans’ unemployment rate falling to 7.8 percent in May, down from 9.1 percent in April.

Younger veterans — those discharged since 2001 — continue to have a higher unemployment rate that the national average, but the job market also appears to have improved for them. In May, the unemployment rate for Iraq- and Afghanistan-era veterans was 10.6 percent, down from 13.1 percent in April.

Friday’s U.S. Labor Department report on employment status shows the national unemployment rate dropped from 9.9 percent in April to 9.7 percent in May, in part from the creation of 431,000 jobs, although 411,000 were temporary jobs as census workers.

Compared with one year ago, the unemployment rate for all veterans and for younger veterans has shown improvement. In May 2009, the overall unemployment rate for all veterans over the age of 18 was 8.5 percent and the unemployment rate for post-2001 veterans was 11.4 percent.

Overall, the veterans’ unemployment rate is about the same for men and women, but there is a big difference for post-2001 veterans. In May, rate was 9.8 percent for men and 15.2 percent for women.