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Labor force participation rate 73.5 percent in 2018 for Gulf War-era II veterans with a disability

March 29, 2019

In August 2018, Gulf War-era II veterans—those who served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces anywhere in the world since September 2001—with a service-connected disability continued to have a lower labor force participation rate (73.5 percent) than veterans from this period with no service-connected disability (85.8 percent).

Labor force participation rate for Gulf War-era II veterans by presence and degree of service-connected disability, 2009–18
Year Without a service-connected disability With a service-connected disability Less than 30 percent disability rating 30 to 50 percent disability rating 60 percent or higher disability rating

2009

87.2% 80.5% 88.7% 84.6% 71.7%

2010

86.2 81.0 83.7 86.8 63.7

2011

83.7 80.0 87.1 92.2 57.8

2012

87.0 70.3 83.9 80.4 51.3

2013

85.4 70.5 88.7 69.4 53.9

2014

85.6 75.1 81.6 85.3 67.1

2015

87.3 73.2 77.1 91.1 62.3

2016

86.6 76.0 87.6 86.6 63.4

2017

85.5 75.8 91.6 86.9 61.7

2018

85.8 73.5 88.6 82.5 62.3

Veterans are assigned a disability rating by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the U.S. Department of Defense. Ratings range from 0 to 100 percent, in increments of 10 percentage points, depending on the severity of the condition. For Gulf War-era II veterans, those with a service-connected disability rating of 60 percent or higher had a labor force participation rate of 62.3 percent in August 2018, much lower than the rate of 88.6 percent for those with a service-connected disability rating of less than 30 percent. The labor force participation rates for both these groups changed little over the year.

These data are from the Current Population Survey. For more information, see “Employment Situation of Veterans — 2018.” We have more information about veterans. Veterans are men and women who previously served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces and were civilians when they were surveyed. People on active duty are outside the scope of the survey. Typically, the CPS Veterans supplement is conducted in August.  In 2010, however, the supplement was conducted in July.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Labor force participation rate 73.5 percent in 2018 for Gulf War-era II veterans with a disability at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2019/labor-force-participation-rate-73-point-5-percent-in-2018-for-gulf-war-era-2-veterans-with-a-disability.htm (visited April 19, 2024).

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