New research revealed that unemployed veterans are increasing in numbers.
The question is, why are former military service men and women having a hard time finding jobs?
Research Shows Unemployed Veterans are Increasing
U.S. military veterans set up 1,892 American flags on the National Mall March 27, 2014 in Washington, DC. The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America installed the flags to represent the 1,892 veterans and service members who committed suicide this year as part of the "We've Got Your Back: IAVA's Campaign to Combat Suicide."
According to Military Times' latest report, the veteran unemployment rate in August drastically increased.
Based on the data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the veteran unemployment rate in the mentioned person is the highest one during the past 20 months.
Researchers of BLS revealed that the August veteran unemployment rate was 3.6%. This is a massive increase compared to July's record, which is 2.9%.
Despite the unemployment rate spike among former U.S. military servicemen, experts are quite optimistic. They said that this trend is expected to change in the following months.
"One month of data, that shouldn't lead us to worry about what is happening," said Rosalinda Maury, the Institute of Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University's applied research director.
"You do see some fluctuations month to month, especially because of the sampling of some smaller subsets of populations," she explained.
Why Veterans Can't Find Jobs
A couple views a large American flag set up on the National Mall, May 27, 2016, in Washington, DC. Rolling Thunder members and supporters will participate in a motorcycle rally on Sunday afternoon in Washington. Rolling Thunder is an advocacy group that seeks to bring awareness to prisoners of war (POWs) and missing in action (MIA) service members of all U.S. wars.
Military.Com recently explained the reasons why veterans are having a hard time finding jobs (or can't find any work at all).
These include the following:
Negative Stereotypes About Veterans
Some employers think that all veterans are too rigid or formal to their companies/businesses. Another stereotype about vets is that they have anger issues, which could affect their jobs.
Mismatch of Job Skills
Another issue with veterans is that many of them are trying to apply for jobs that don't match their skills.
Ineffective Skills Translation
Since former U.S. military servicemen are mostly focused on defense tasks, they need to find a way on to translate their work skills into civilian terms, which is a hard thing to do.
Veterans are Not Fit in Corporate Works
Many companies believe that veterans are not fit in their corporate world.
Future Deployment Concerns
Some employers are concerned that if they decide to hire veterans, they could miss their work once the U.S. asks them for defense deployments.
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