WASHINGTON (AP) — A new government report says the unemployment rate for veterans who have served since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks dropped by about 18 percent in 2012.
The annual report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the unemployment rate for the latest generation of veterans fell to 9.9 percent. About a third served in Iraq or Afghanistan, or both.
The report reinforces that, as a whole, veterans have an easier time finding work than nonveterans. It says last year’s unemployment rate was 7 percent for all veterans, nearly a point lower than nonveterans.
But the picture is bleaker for the youngest veterans, those 24 years old and younger. Nearly 1 in 5 was unemployed.
Both the federal government and the private sector are pushing several initiatives to hire veterans.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.