Employment Situation of Veterans Summary

For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Tuesday, April 28, 2026                                    USDL-26-0666

Technical information:  (202) 691-6378  *  cpsinfo@bls.gov  *  www.bls.gov/cps  
Media contact:          (202) 691-5902  *  PressOffice@bls.gov


                             EMPLOYMENT SITUATION OF VETERANS -- 2025


The unemployment rate for veterans who served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces at any
time since September 2001--a group referred to as Gulf War-era II veterans--was little changed
at 3.6 percent in 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The jobless rate
for all veterans increased over the year from 3.0 percent to 3.5 percent in 2025. In August
2025, 50 percent of Gulf War-era II veterans had a service-connected disability, compared with
34 percent of all veterans. 

This information was obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly sample
survey of about 60,000 eligible households that provides data on employment, unemployment,
and people not in the labor force in the United States. Data about veterans are collected
monthly in the CPS; these monthly data are the source of the 2025 annual averages presented in
this news release. In August 2025, a supplement to the CPS collected additional information
about veterans on topics such as service-connected disability and veterans' current or past
Reserve or National Guard membership. The supplement was co-sponsored by the U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Department of Labor's Veterans' Employment and Training
Service. For more information, see the Technical Note in this news release. 

 _____________________________________________________________________________________________
|											      |
|                     Federal Government Shutdown Impact on Veterans Data		      |
|											      |
| The CPS for October 2025 was not collected due to the federal government shutdown. As a     |
| result, annual estimates for 2025 household survey data were produced using 11-month	      |
| averages that exclude October. Consequently, 2025 annual estimates are not strictly	      |
| comparable with annual averages for other years. Veterans supplement data collected in      |
| August 2025 were not affected. For information about the impact of the federal government   |
| shutdown on CPS data, see								      |
| www.bls.gov/cps/methods/2025-federal-government-shutdown-impact-cps.htm.		      |
|_____________________________________________________________________________________________|


Highlights from the 2025 data:

 --The unemployment rate for all veterans increased to 3.5 percent in 2025 and was lower than the
   rate for nonveterans, at 4.2 percent. (See table A.)

 --The unemployment rate for male veterans (3.3 percent) was lower than the rate for female
   veterans (4.6 percent) in 2025. Both measures increased over the year. (See table A.)

 --Unemployment rates for Black and Hispanic veterans were lower than for their nonveteran
   counterparts in 2025, while the rates for White and Asian veterans were not statistically
   different than their nonveteran counterparts. (See table 1.)

 --Among the 294,000 unemployed veterans in 2025, about 60 percent were ages 25 to 54, 35
   percent were age 55 and over, and 5 percent were ages 18 to 24. (See table 2A.)

 --Gulf War-era II veterans who reported a service-connected disability rating of less than 30
   percent in August 2025 were much more likely to be in the labor force than those with a
   rating of 60 percent or higher (85.1 percent versus 64.7 percent). (See table 7.)

 --In August 2025, 38.7 percent of employed veterans with a service-connected disability
   worked in the public sector, compared with 20.2 percent of veterans with no disability.
   Among nonveterans, 13.0 percent worked in the public sector. (See table 8.)

The Veteran Population

In 2025, 17.3 million men and women were veterans, accounting for about 7 percent of the
civilian noninstitutional population age 18 and over. Of all veterans, 12 percent were women.
In the survey, veterans are defined as men and women who have previously served on active duty
in the U.S. Armed Forces and who were civilians at the time these data were collected. 

Veterans are much more likely to be men than are nonveterans, and they also tend to be older.
In part, this reflects the characteristics of veterans who served during the Vietnam era and
earlier wartime periods, all of whom are now age 65 and over. Veterans who served during these
wartime periods accounted for about 28 percent (4.9 million) of the total veteran population
in 2025. The largest group of veterans in 2025, at 33 percent (5.6 million), served during
Gulf War-era II (September 2001 to present), while 19 percent of veterans (3.3 million) served
during Gulf War-era I (August 1990 to August 2001). The remaining 20 percent of veterans (3.5
million) last served outside these designated wartime periods. (See tables 1 and 2A.)              

The unemployment rate for veteran men (3.3 percent) increased by 0.4 percentage point in 2025
while the rate for veteran women (4.6 percent) increased by 1.1 percentage points. Compared to
nonveteran men and women, the unemployment rate for veteran men was lower than their
nonveteran counterparts (4.3 percent), while the rate for veteran women was little different
from that of their nonveteran counterparts (4.0 percent). Unemployment rates for White (3.3
percent) and Black (5.0 percent) veterans increased over the year, while the rates for Asian
(2.7 percent) and Hispanic or Latino (4.0 percent) veterans were little changed over the year.
Black veterans had a higher unemployment rate than veterans who are White or Asian in 2025.

Gulf War-era II Veterans

In 2025, there were 5.6 million veterans who had served during Gulf War-era II (September 2001
to present). Eighteen percent of these veterans were women, compared to about 15 percent of
Gulf War-era I veterans and about 4 percent of veterans from the Vietnam era and earlier
wartime periods. (See tables 1 and 2A.) 

The unemployment rate for Gulf War-era II veterans was little changed over the year at 3.6
percent. Female Gulf War-era II veterans had a higher unemployment rate than their male
counterparts in 2025 (4.8 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively). (See table A.) 

The unemployment rate for male Gulf War-era II veterans, at 3.4 percent, was lower than the
rate for male nonveterans, at 4.3 percent, in 2025. By age, unemployment rates for male Gulf
War-era II veterans and male nonveterans were not statistically different, with one exception:
45-to-54-year-old male Gulf War-era II veterans had an unemployment rate of 1.5 percent, lower
than the rate of 3.0 percent for their nonveteran counterparts. (See table 2B.) 

The unemployment rate for female Gulf War-era II veterans, at 4.8 percent, was little
different than the rate for female nonveterans, at 4.0 percent, in 2025. By age, unemployment
rates for female Gulf War-era II veterans and nonveterans were not statistically different,
with one exception: female veterans ages 25 to 34 had an unemployment rate of 8.1 percent,
higher than the rate for their nonveteran counterparts, at 4.2 percent. (See table 2C.)

Employed Gulf War-era II veteran men were more likely than their nonveteran counterparts to
work in management, professional, and related occupations (41.8 percent versus 39.5 percent),
and in service occupations (15.5 percent versus 12.9 percent) in 2025. For women, employed
Gulf War-era II veterans were more likely than their nonveteran counterparts to work in
management, professional, and related occupations (59.1 percent versus 48.8 percent) and in
natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations (2.3 percent versus 1.1 percent).
(See table 4.)

Employed Gulf War-era II veteran men were nearly three times as likely to work in the public
sector in 2025 as their employed nonveteran counterparts--27.3 percent versus 10.0 percent.
Employed female Gulf War-era II veterans were about twice as likely to work in the public
sector than nonveteran women--33.4 percent versus 16.2 percent. Overall, 16.2 percent of
employed Gulf War-era II veterans worked for the federal government, compared with 2.1 percent
of nonveterans. (See table 5.) 

In August 2025, 39 percent of Gulf War-era II veterans reported serving in Iraq, Afghanistan,
or both locations. The unemployment rate for these veterans, at 3.4 percent, changed little
over the year. The rate for Gulf War-era II veterans who served elsewhere (2.3 percent in
August 2025) also changed little over the year. (See table 10.)

Veterans with a Service-connected Disability

In August 2025, 5.8 million veterans, or 34 percent of all veterans, had a service-connected
disability. Veterans with a service-connected disability are assigned a disability rating by
the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the U.S. Department of Defense. Ratings range from
0 to 100 percent, in increments of 10 percentage points, depending on the severity of the
condition. (See table 7.) 

Over the year, the unemployment rate for veterans with a service-connected disability
decreased by 1.7 percentage points to 2.4 percent in August 2025. The rate for veterans with
no service-connected disability was little changed at 3.7 percent. The unemployment rates for
both male veterans with a service-connected disability (2.1 percent) and female veterans with
a service-connected disability (3.8 percent) showed little change over the year.

Among veterans with a service-connected disability in August 2025, 17 percent had a disability
rating of less than 30 percent, while 59 percent had a rating of 60 percent or higher. The
unemployment rate for veterans with a disability rating of less than 30 percent was 1.6
percent, little different than the rate for those with a disability rating of 60 percent or
higher, at 3.0 percent.

In August 2025, 50 percent (2.8 million) of veterans who served during Gulf War-era II
reported a service-connected disability. The labor force participation rate of Gulf War-era II
veterans with a service-connected disability (71.3 percent) was lower than the rate for their
counterparts with no service-connected disability (84.5 percent). Among Gulf War-era II
veterans, the unemployment rate for those with a service-connected disability (2.3 percent)
was not statistically different than the rate for those with no disability (3.2 percent). 

Among Gulf War-era II veterans with a service-connected disability, 70 percent reported a
disability rating of 60 percent or higher in August 2025. Gulf War-era II veterans who
reported a disability rating of less than 30 percent were more likely to be in the labor force
than those with a rating of 60 percent or higher (85.1 percent compared with 64.7 percent). 

Regardless of period of service, many veterans with a service-connected disability work in the
public sector. In August 2025, 38.7 percent of employed veterans with a service-connected
disability worked in federal, state, or local government, compared with 20.2 percent of
veterans with no disability and 13.0 percent of nonveterans. Nearly one-fourth (23.2 percent) 
of employed veterans with a service-connected disability worked for the federal government,
compared with 8.6 percent of veterans with no service-connected disability and 2.1 percent of
nonveterans. (See table 8.)

Reserve and National Guard Membership

In August 2025, over one-third (2.0 million) of Gulf War-era II veterans were current or past
members of the Reserve or National Guard. The labor force participation rate for veterans of
this period who were current or past members of the Reserve or National Guard (77.0 percent)
was not statistically different than the rate for veterans who had never been members (78.5
percent). Among Gulf War-era II veterans, the unemployment rates for those who were current or
past members of the Reserve or National Guard (1.8 percent) and for those who had never been
members (3.1 percent) were not statistically different from each other and were little changed
from a year earlier. (See table 9.)