"The BLS employment statistics were released today. Attached is our ‘cheat sheet’ for your use and information. We have also included the 2nd quarter 2015 statistic report. The national unemployment rate decreased from 5.5% to 5.3% and the Veteran unemployment numbers decreased from 5.0% to 4.4%. Thanks to all of you who are working directly or indirectly, to ensure our Veterans have meaningful employment."Let's take a look at the details.
This chart shows the last twelve months unemployment rate by month. Civilians are the blue line, all male veterans the red line, all male era I (Desert Storm) the green line, and post 9/11 male veterans purple.
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| Male Unemployment Comparison Chart |
Note the overall downward trend of the post 9/11 male veterans. This is a good thing and kudo's to all who have worked to bring this trend about. We have to stay vigilant, however because when the twelve month average is considered, post 9/11 male veterans remain much higher than non veterans, and double the rate of Desert Storm veterans.
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| Male Unemployment twelve month average comparison |
Females are a different story, with a sharp dip to the good but then a return back to the levels of a year ago. This is a very small population segment, a few numbers skew the ratio.
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| Female Unemployment Comparison Chart |
Overall this month a post 9/11 veteran is 18.5% more likely to be unemployed than a non-veteran. On a twelve month average, 37.75% more likely unemployed. The trend is going the right way, keep it up!
v/r Karl
