Employment of veterans, 2010

In 2010, 69.1 percent of all employed veterans aged 18 and over worked in private nonagricultural industries and 21.9 percent worked in federal, state and local government. Another 8.2 percent of veterans were self-employed.

Within private nonagricultural industries, 12.9 percent of veterans worked in manufacturing, followed by 10.0 percent in professional and business services, 8.3 percent in education and health services, and 8.0 percent in retail trade.

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Among male veterans, 69.4 percent were employed in private nonagricultural industries and 21.1 percent were employed in government. This compares with 66.1 and 29.6 percent for female veterans, respectively.

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Among male nonveterans, 79.0 percent were employed in private nonagricultural industries and 11.3 percent were employed in government. For female nonveterans, the figures were 75.7 and 18.2 percent, respectively.

These data are from the Current Population Survey (CPS). For more information, see "Employment Situation of Veterans — 2010" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-11-0306. In the CPS, 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 they were surveyed. Data about veterans are collected monthly in the CPS; those monthly data are the source of the 2010 annual averages presented here.