The unemployment rate for female veterans rose to 7% in August while the rate for all veterans bumped up to 3.5% — even as the jobless rate for the general population ticked down from 4.3% to 4.2%, the Labor Department reported Friday.
The latest monthly report disclosed a troubling pattern for women veterans in the jobs market in recent months, with their unemployment rate going up from 3.2% in June to 5% in July and then to 7% for August, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For all veterans, the jobless rate was 3.5% in August, up from 3.0% in July. The closely watched unemployment rate for the post-9/11 generation of veterans also stood at 3.5% in August, and was also up from 3.0% in July.
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The statistics for all veterans were “tolerable” following months when the jobless rates fell below 3%, but the 7% unemployment figure for women veterans “jumped out at me” in the latest jobs report, said Kevin Rasch, the Warriors to Work regional director at Wounded Warrior Project.
The statistics for female veterans tend to show more fluctuation month to month, since the population of women veterans is much smaller than the male population, Rasch said, but “there are some issues that are unique” to women veterans that can impact their unemployment rates.
Transition programs in the military…
