The unemployment rate for female veterans rose to 7% in August while the rate for all veterans bumped up to 3.5% — even as the jobless rate for the general population ticked down from 4.3% to 4.2%, the Labor Department reported Friday.
The latest monthly report disclosed a troubling pattern for women veterans in the jobs market in recent months, with their unemployment rate going up from 3.2% in June to 5% in July and then to 7% for August, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For all veterans, the jobless rate was 3.5% in August, up from 3.0% in July. The closely watched unemployment rate for the post-9/11 generation of veterans also stood at 3.5% in August, and was also up from 3.0% in July.
The statistics for all veterans were “tolerable” following months when the jobless rates fell below 3%, but the 7% unemployment figure for women veterans “jumped out at me” in the latest jobs report, said Kevin Rasch, the Warriors to Work regional director at Wounded Warrior Project.
The statistics for female veterans tend to show more fluctuation month to month, since the population of women veterans is much smaller than the male population, Rasch said, but “there are some issues that are unique” to women veterans that can impact their unemployment rates.
Transition programs in the military for women can sometimes fall short of meeting their needs as they prepare to enter the civilian workforce, he said, and female veterans in the jobs market tend to make considerably less than their male counterparts — $59,000 annually for women veterans vs. $70,000 for male veterans.
According to Wounded Warrior Project’s 2023 Women Warriors Report, nearly half (49.3%) of the 34,000 women veterans registered with WWP report that they live paycheck-to-paycheck (“sometimes” to “all the time”), and 39.4% say “they have little to no confidence that they could find the money to cover a $1,000 emergency expense.”
In a statement, Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su said the BLS report showed that “earnings continue to rise, reflecting ongoing wage growth, and labor force participation remains strong, including an all-time historic high women’s prime age labor force participation rate” to 59.2% in August from 58.9% in July, despite the rise in women veterans’ unemployment rate to 7.0%.
The BLS report also noted that hiring was slowing as the economy added 142,000 jobs in August, which was below Wall Street expectations of job growth in the range of 160,000, although the unemployment rate came down from 4.3% to 4.2%.
The mixed messages sent by the BLS report rattled the stock markets, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 410 points to close at 40,345.
The markets were also focused on what will happen Sept. 18 when the Federal Reserve Board meets to consider cuts in the benchmark interest rate, which has remained above 5% since early 2023.
The signals from Wall Street, and from the Fed itself, suggest that a cut in the interest rate is coming, and the question is whether the cut will be a quarter point or a half point.
The monthly BLS report was closely watched by the opposing camps in the presidential race, where the economy polls as the main issue.
“The numbers are terrible,” former President Donald Trump said without elaboration in reference to the BLS report, before issuing lengthy remarks on how numerous judges and the Justice Department are plotting against him in several court cases.
He spoke after appearing in court in Manhattan where his lawyers filed an appeal to E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit accusing him of sexual abuse and defamation that ended in a $5 million jury verdict against him.
In a statement, President Joe Biden sidestepped the specifics of the latest jobs report and instead touted the overall accomplishments of his administration, saying that “nearly 16 million new jobs have been created” on his watch.
“With inflation back down close to normal levels (under 3%), it is important to focus on sustaining the historic gains we have made for American workers,” Biden said.
Related: Veteran Unemployment Rate Stays Under 3% in Still Robust Jobs Market