Veteran Unemployment Rate was 4.8% in June
In June 2023, the veteran unemployment rate was 4.8%, up from 4.4% the previous month. The comparable non-veteran unemployment rate was 5.9% in June.
View the full report:
Veteran Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment Rates
Seasonally and Non-Seasonally Adjusted Data
Historically, we have referenced the non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for veterans. However, beginning July 2019, the Bureau of Labor Statistics began publishing the seasonally adjusted veteran unemployment rate. This adjustment accounts for any predictable seasonal patterns in the data and allows for better month-to-month comparisons; we will utilize this data series going forward.
The full seasonally adjusted veteran unemployment rate series going back to 2003 is available here: Veteran Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment Rates. If you are interested in the non-seasonally adjusted data, that is still available here: Non-Seasonally Adjusted Data.
Employment Situation of Veterans – 2020
In 2020, the jobless rate for all veterans increased to 6.5 percent.Read the full report.
Highlights from the 2020 data:
- Unemployment rates for both male and female veterans increased in 2020, reflecting the COVID-19 pandemic. The rate for male veterans was 6.5 percent, little different from the rate of 6.7 percent for female veterans.
- Unemployment rates for White, Black, Asian, and Hispanic veterans were lower than for their nonveteran counterparts in 2020.
- Among the 581,000 unemployed veterans in 2020, 54 percent were ages 25 to 54, 41 percent were age 55 and over, and 5 percent were ages 18 to 24.
- The unemployment rate of veterans with a service-connected disability, at 6.2 percent in April 2020, did not have a statistically significant change over the year. The rate for veterans with no disability rose to 7.2 percent.
- Gulf War-era II veterans who reported a service-connected disability rating of less than 30 percent were much more likely to be in the labor force than those with a rating of 60 percent or higher in April 2020 (91.5 percent, compared with 63.6 percent).
- In April 2020, 31 percent of employed veterans with a service-connected disability worked in the public sector, compared with 19 percent of veterans with no disability and 14 percent of nonveterans.
- In 2020, the unemployment rate of veterans varied across the country, ranging from 2.7 percent in Nebraska to 11.3 percent in Michigan.
