2008 Employment Situation of Veterans — 2009-03-20

The unemployment rate for all veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces was 4.6 percent in 2008, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The jobless rate for those who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces since September 2001 was 7.3 percent. This information was obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly sample survey of about 60,000 households that provides official statistics on employment and unemployment in the United States. Data about veteran status and period of service are collected monthly in the CPS; these data are the source of the 2008 annual averages presented in this release. For more information, see the box note on page 3 and the technical note, which provides definitions of terms used in the text and tables below. In the CPS, veterans are defined as men and women who have previously served on active duty in the U.S.