The veterans unemployment rate fell last month to pre-pandemic levels. This is parallel to national jobless rates continued their steadily decline of recent months
According to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday, the unemployment rate for all veterans dropped from 4.0 percent in July to 3.6 percent in August. That’s the first time the mark has been below 4 percent since February 2020, before the outbreak of coronavirus in America prompted widespread business closings and layoffs.
The 3.6 percent rate translates into roughly 300,000 working-age veterans unable to find steady employment last month. This figure is down about 160,000 individuals from August 2020.
Nationally, the unemployment rate declined for the fourth consecutive month in August, to 5.2 percent. Despite the improvement, that figure still sits well above pre-pandemic monthly jobless rates of around 3.5 percent.
BLS officials said that so far in 2021, the U.S. economy has averaged about 586,000 new jobs a month.
Veterans unemployment rates generally outpace civilian sector figures, although not typically by a gap as large as the August numbers.
In the 38 months before the pandemic began, the veterans monthly jobless rate was more than 1 percentage point different from the national rate only twice. During coronavirus impacts, the veterans rate has bettered the overall U.S. estimate by more than 1 percentage point 13 times. (continue reading)
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