More young war veterans and female vets remain jobless

Despite overall drop in unemployment, jobless rate of young veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan wars double that of civilian peers.

Growing numbers of young and female veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars remain jobless despite an overall decline in unemployment and an infusion of new federal programs to help them.

One of three veterans ages 18 to 24 were without work the last quarter of 2011, double the rate of civilian peers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. One in five young veterans were without work in the last quarter of 2010.

Nearly 22% of female veterans — or an estimated 50,00 women — who served during both wars were unemployed in December, according to the data. The jobless rates for Iraq and Afghanistan female veterans in the first through fourth quarters last year were 9.8%, 8.6%, 11.3% and 16.8%, respectively.

“In November and December, these (unemployment figures) really shot up,” says Adriana Kugler, chief economist for the Department of Labor. “Certainly something happened.”

Economists blame the high joblessness among young veterans on the lack of marketable civilian skills. “(These) veterans are facing a labor market that is not as forgiving in what they may lack in job experience. They’ve got the military experience, but that doesn’t translate,” says Jim Borbely, an economist with the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The issue for women is more complicated. Kugler says their joblessness could be merely a severe fluctuation.

She and Borbely note, however, that female veterans historically gravitate to work in areas now experiencing severe cutbacks, such as education and the public sector. This might account for their high unemployment, Borbely says.

Many may also be drawing unemployment benefits as they begin using federal assistance to go to college, he says.

Joblessness among all Iraq- and Afghanistan-era veterans remains stubbornly higher than the U.S. average. Veteran jobless rates are not seasonally adjusted as national unemployment rates are. December’s jobless rate among this veteran group was 13.1%, compared with the nation’s unseasonally adjusted rate of 8.3% and 8.5% seasonally adjusted.

An estimated 248,000 of these veterans are without work, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says.

The persistent struggle to find them jobs triggered several federal initiatives, including a “Hire a Veteran” bill signed by President Obama in November, which provides job training to veterans and tax credits to businesses that hire them.