Charting unemployment and young veterans
Young male veterans (those ages 18 to 24) in the United States who served since September 2001 had an unemployment rate of 11.2 percent in 2007, not statistically different from the jobless rate of young male non-veterans (10.5 percent). This is according to data released by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Young male veterans were more likely to be in the labor force than their non-veteran counterparts.
About 1.5 million veterans served since September 2001. As with all period-of-service groups, men accounted for the vast majority (84 percent) of these veterans. However, the proportion of veterans who were women was much higher among veterans who served in this most recent era than among those who served in earlier periods.
The Current Population Survey (CPS) is the source of these data. 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. To learn more, see “Employment Situation of Veterans: 2007,” USDL 08-0456.