2020 Employment Situation of Veterans — 2021-03-18

The unemployment rate for veterans who served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces at any time since September 2001--a group referred to as Gulf War-era II veterans--rose to 7.3 percent in 2020, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The jobless rate for all veterans increased to 6.5 percent in 2020. These increases reflect the effect of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the labor market. In August 2020, 40 percent of Gulf War-era II veterans had a service- connected disability, compared with 26 percent of all veterans. This information was obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly sample survey of about 60,000 eligible households that provides data on employment, unemployment, and persons not in the labor force in the United States. Data about veterans are collected monthly in the CPS; these monthly data are the source of the 2020 annual averages presented in this news release.