Employment and unemployment among all veterans, Gulf-War era II veterans, and nonveterans

In 2013, the employment-population ratio for all veterans was 47.9 percent, compared to 61.4 percent for nonveterans age 18 and over. (The ratio is the number of employed people as a percentage of the civilian noninstitutional population age 18 and older.) Gulf-War era II veterans, who served on active duty anywhere in the world sometime since September 2001, had an employment-population ratio of 73.3 percent in 2013.

The employment-population ratio for veterans ages 18 to 24 was 57.1 percent in 2013, and the ratio for nonveterans of the same age was 55.4 percent. Veterans age 35 to 44 had an employment-population ratio of 83.6 percent, the highest ratio out of all veteran age groups in 2013. Among those ages 55 to 64, Gulf-War era II veterans had an employment-population ratio of 71.9 percent compared to 56.8 percent for all veterans and 61.4 percent for nonveterans.

The unemployment rate for all veterans was below that of Gulf-War era II veterans in 2013, at 6.6 percent and 9.0 percent, respectively. Among those ages 18 to 24, veterans had higher unemployment rate (21.4 percent) compared to nonveterans (14.3 percent). Among those ages 35 and over, unemployment rates for all groups were below 7.0 percent in 2013.

These data are from the Current Population Survey (CPS). For more information, see "Employment Situation of Veterans — 2013" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL‑14‑0434. For additional data, see the CPS section on veterans. Veterans are defined as men and women who have previously served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces and who were civilians at the time these data were collected.