Veterans Day represents an important point of national reflection and a time to recognize the service of all the veterans of our nation’s armed forces. But we should also consider how to truly empower veterans and maximize the talent they bring to companies, organizations, and communities across the nation. With national unemployment rates at historically low levels, veteran unemployment is now even lower, dropping to 2.8% last month. But it’s hard to take a victory lap just yet. Today, the difficulty of military-to-civilian transitions persists in the form of underemployment.
Almost half of veterans and military families describe their transition from military service as either “difficult” or “very difficult.” This number has remained constant for the past decade. Moreover, recent studies have identified that “there is limited evidence” that the “vast and fragmented” array of federal transition support programs are effective. The research is unequivocal: Despite historically low veteran unemployment numbers, “it is too early to simply declare ‘mission accomplished’ on veteran employment.”
