As the Bureau of Labor Statistics
has been saying for some time, the youngest cohort of military veterans, those who have served since 2001 under the broad category of Gulf War II, are finding it far harder to find jobs than the population overall and compared with older veterans.
Indeed, older veterans have done somewhat better than non-veterans of the same age during the economic downturn that officially began four years ago this month. For those vets aged 20 to 24, however, the situation is tough. Their unemployment rate this past year has averaged 30 percent, double the rate of other people their age. And it will soon get tougher. Sheila Dewan reports:
[Cpl. Clayton Rhoden, who earned $2500 a month chasing down improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan] now lives with his parents, sells his blood plasma for $80 a week and works what extra duty he can get for his Marine Corps Reserve unit.
Corporal Rhoden, who is 25, gawky and polite with a passion for soldiering, is one of the legions of veterans who served in combat yet have a harder time finding work than other people their age, a situation that officials say will grow worse as the United States completes its pullout of Iraq and as, by a White House estimate, a million new veterans join the work force over the next five years.
At root, obviously, is the fact the economy still sucks. We've been hearing 30 months' worth of lead sentences like this from CNBC, ever since the recession officially ended: "As the first signs of an economic recovery make the news ..." The situation is getting better, but what's that expression about molasses in January? But for young veterans, many of whom no doubt thought, who no doubt were told, that their service would make them more employable once they stepped out of uniform, the situation is bitter indeed.
In fact, for some veterans, getting a job has been made more difficult. Since businesses must legally hold jobs open for called-up employees who are National Guardsmen or in the Reserves, and those groups were pushed into extended tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, that pinched some employers. Ted Daywalt, who runs VetJobs.com in Georgia, told the Times: “Nearly 65 to 70 percent of employers will not now hire National Guard and Reserve. They can’t run their business with someone being taken away for 12 months.” That kind of discrimination is illegal, but a sharp employer can get around it.
There also is a reluctance to hire veterans for fear of potential behavior from post-traumatic stress disorder, something that affects a large percentage of veterans to some extent or another.
The Obama administration has made efforts to improve the hiring of veterans. And a few large companies have made pledges to do so. In August, the president unveiled a two-year, $120 million program of tax cuts and persuasion to put 100,000 out-of-work veterans into jobs by 2013. Persuading businesses to step up will be "Joining Forces," as led by first lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, the vice president's wife.
But getting more veterans into employment is ultimately about putting the nation back to work. Currently, somewhere between 20 percent and 25 percent of the workforce is unemployed or underemployed, and the 132,000 new jobs available on average every month so far in 2011 isn't enough to make a very big dent in those situation.