The unemployment rate for veterans ticked up in July but remained at a historic low just under 3% as the economy added another 187,000 jobs in a sign of labor market resilience.
The overall unemployment rate for the general population dipped from 3.6% in June to 3.5% in July, while the rate for all veterans went up from 2.7% to 2.9%, according to the monthly employment situation report Friday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For the post-9/11 generation of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, the unemployment rate jumped from 2.6% in June to 3.4% in July in a group that has shown the most fluctuations in jobless rates in the long recovery from the double-digit rates during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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“We've come a long way” in the job market, former Army Capt. Allison Jaslow, an Iraq veteran and the new CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said of the transitioning post-9/11 veterans.
“There was a time when the private sector didn't see veteran talent for what it is,” Jaslow said, but more and more employers have come to understand veterans as assets to their firms.
In July, job gains were recorded in health care, social assistance, financial activities and wholesale trade, the BLS report said, and the labor force participation rate stood at 62.6% for the fifth consecutive month. In addition, there are 1.5 job openings for each…
