The unemployment numbers for recent veterans have been abysmal for a while - 11.7% in December. And this week brings news that the numbers have gotten drastically worse since then, reaching an astonishing 15.2% in January.
[module align="right" width="half" type="pull-quote"]One out of every four young veterans in California is looking for a job.[/module]Meanwhile, the national employment rate dropped slightly in January from 9.4% to 9%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Although that may be too sunny a gloss on what's actually happening, as The Atlantic's Daniel Indiviglio points out.) So not only is the veteran unemployment rate depressingly high, it's also bucking national trends.
What could be going on?
Here's what Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America has to say:
Rep. Patty Murray, the new chairwoman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Subcommittee, suspects employer discrimination, according to Rick Maze's account in the Army Times:
In California, the situation is even worse, as KPBS' Maureen Cavanagh explored in a recent These Days program on KPBS. One out of every four young veterans in California is looking for a job. Michael Lew, employment coordinator with the California Department of Veterans Affairs, said that young veterans struggle to find jobs because of their newness to the job market:
Listen to the rest of that show for some good information on programs for veterans looking for work:
But of course, the picture isn't entirely bleak. Some veterans are finding work in unexpected places, as John Kelly reported in this week's Washington Post:
