Employment Situation of Veterans — Spotlight on Veterans:
Chart Data

Veterans by Period of Service

Period of service	Percent distribution
Gulf War-era II veterans	8.7
Gulf War-era I veterans	13.1
WWII, Korean War, Vietnam era	51.3
Other service periods	26.8

Source: Current Population Survey, annual averages 2009 | Chart

NOTE: Gulf War-era II veterans served anywhere on active duty since September 2001. Gulf War-era I veterans served anywhere between August 1990 and August 2001.

 

Unemployment Rates by Period of Service

Unemployment rate

Period of service	Unemployment rate
Nonveterans	9.1
Veterans, all service periods	8.1
Gulf War era II	10.2
Gulf War era I	7.6
WWII, Korean War, and Vietnam era	7.5
Other service periods	8.3

Source: Current Population Survey, annual averages 2009 | Chart

 

Unemployment Rates of Male Veterans and Nonveterans Ages 20 and over

	Male veterans	Male nonveterans
2000	2.8	3.4
2001	3.5	4.3
2002	4.7	5.4
2003	5.0	5.8
2004	4.5	5.1
2005	3.8	4.6
2006	3.7	4.1
2007	3.7	4.2
2008	4.5	5.6
2009	8.1	9.8

Source: Current Population Survey, annual averages 2000-09 | Chart

 

Unemployment Rates of Male Veterans and Nonveterans by Age

	18-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55-64	65+
Male veterans	21.6	11.2	7.3	8.5	7.2	6.6
Male nonveterans	19.1	10.9	8.8	8.2	7.2	6.6

Source: Current Population Survey, annual averages 2009 | Chart

 

Unemployment Rates of Female Veterans and Nonveterans by Age

	18-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55-64
Female veterans	19.2	10.3	7.3	6.3	7.0
Female nonveterans	13.9	8.6	7.1	6.0	6.0

Source: Current Population Survey, annual averages 2009 | Chart

NOTE: The unemployment rates of female veterans and nonveterans 18-24 years old are not statistically different due to the small sample size of female veterans 18-24 years old. Estimates with small sample sizes have large standard errors. The unemployment rate for female veterans 65 years and over does not meet publication standards because of the small sample size.

 

Labor Market Activity of Young Veterans

Percent of veterans ages 18 to 24 in 1998-2008

Number of months since separation from the Armed Forces	Employed	Unemployed	Not in the labor force
1	42.2	23.8	34.0
2	51.0	21.6	27.4
3	58.4	18.6	23.0
4	60.5	15.9	23.6
5	65.4	14.9	19.7
6	65.1	12.5	22.3
7	69.9	11.2	18.9
8	68.6	11.3	20.1
9	69.5	11.9	18.6
10	71.7	11.2	17.1
11	74.8	10.0	15.2
12	78.6	8.7	12.7
13	79.4	7.5	13.0
14	78.4	7.5	14.1
15	75.8	7.2	17.0
16	78.3	7.6	14.1
17	75.5	8.1	16.3
18	79.0	6.0	15.0
19	76.6	9.9	13.5
20	80.9	6.4	12.8
21	82.0	7.1	10.9
22	80.8	7.0	12.2
23	82.5	4.9	12.5
24	84.0	5.6	10.4

Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 | Chart

 

College Enrollment of Young Veterans

Percent of veterans ages 18 to 24 in 1998-2008

Month Since Separation	Enrolled in college
1	15.0
2	16.6
3	19.0
4	21.3
5	22.3
6	20.6
7	18.4
8	17.3
9	18.4
10	17.5
11	17.8
12	20.2
13	20.9
14	21.2
15	21.7
16	23.8
17	24.4
18	22.8
19	22.1
20	23.4
21	23.1
22	24.1
23	23.5
24	24.9

Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 | Chart

 

Educational Attainment by Veteran Status

Percent distribution

Veteran status	Less than a high school diploma	High school graduate, no college	Some college or associate degree	College graduate
Nonveterans	14.3	30.8	27.6	27.2
Veterans	7.4	32.7	32.8	27.1
Gulf War-era II veterans	1.5	29.2	45.9	23.4
Gulf War-era I veterans	1.5	28.0	41.4	29.1
WWII, Korean War and Vietnam-era veterans	10.2	32.3	28.9	28.6

Source: Current Population Survey, annual averages 2009 | Chart

 

Occupations of Veterans

Employed veterans and nonveterans by occupation

Occupation	Veterans	Nonveterans
Professional and related	19.2	22.4
Management, business, and financial	18.4	15.3
Sales and office	17.5	24.6
Production, transportation, and material moving	16.7	11.0
Natural resources and construction	7.4	5.9
Service, except protective	7.3	15.6
Installation, maintenance, and repair	7.2	3.3
Protective service	6.4	1.9

Source: Current Population Survey, annual averages 2009 | Chart

 

Employment by Disability Status

Proportion of veterans who were employed by service-connected disability status

Disability status	Employed as a percent of veteran population that served sometime since August 1990
Disabled, total	70.7
Less than 30 percent disabled	77.3
30 to 50 percent disabled	75.7
60 percent disabled or higher	55.8
Not disabled	81.9

Source: Current Population Survey, August 2009 veterans supplement | Chart

 

Where Veterans Work

Distribution of the employed by category of worker and service-connected disability status

Category of worker	Nonveterans	Nondisabled veterans	Disabled veterans
Private nonagricultural wage and salary workers	77.5	68.9	61.1
Federal government workers	2.1	7.6	19.9
State and local government workers	12.2	13.8	12.4
Other workers	8.1	9.8	6.6

Source: Current Population Survey, August 2009 veterans supplement | Chart