Young vets’ jobless rate rises to 13.3 percent

Young vets’ jobless rate rises to 13.3 percent
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Jan 6, 2012 9:35:14 EST
Young veterans continue to have problems finding jobs even as the overall economy is improving, according to Friday’s employment situation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The national unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent in December and 200,000 jobs were created, continuing a trend of slow but steady improvement since August.

However, for Iraq- and Afghanistan-era veterans — those separated from active duty since Sept. 11, 2001 — the jobless rate for December was 13.3 percent. That is greater than the 11.7 percent unemployment rate for this generation of veterans recorded in December 2010 and also greater than the 11.1 percent reported for November 2011.

Month-to-month differences in the unemployment rate for veterans could result from the fact that veterans make up a small part of the overall employment survey, but the trend still shows that young veterans are having a much harder time than non-veterans and older veterans in finding work.
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