Veteran employment remains high even as hurricane impacts dampen job growth

October’s veteran unemployment rate of 2.8% was again better than the 4.1% unemployment rate for the general population, but the figure that stood out most from Friday’s monthly jobs report was the staggering drop in growth in jobs from 223,000 jobs added in September to just 12,000 in October.

“It is likely that employment estimates in some industries were affected by the hurricanes” that devastated the Southeast in October, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its employment report, while noting that the monthly survey “was not designed to isolate the effects of extreme events.” weather phenomena.”

The latest BLS report before next Tuesday’s election became instant fodder for the presidential campaigns, as both sides presented sharply contrasting views on what the poll means for the future of the economy.

In his announcement, President Joe Biden sought to portray the stabilization in job growth as a one-time event related to Hurricanes Helen and Milton and the ongoing strike at the Boeing plant that has affected about 40,000 workers.

“Jobs growth is expected to rebound in November as our hurricane recovery and recovery efforts continue,” Biden said, noting that the economy added an average of 184,000 jobs per month over the past year before the October contraction. He added that Boeing and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers were close to an agreement to end the strike.

In a statement, Caroline Leavitt, former President Donald Trump’s national press secretary, said “this jobs report is a disaster and shows definitively how badly Kamala Harris has destroyed our economy.”

“The Harris-Biden economic agenda is ripping off working families. Kamala destroyed the economy. President Trump will fix that,” Leavitt said.

However, Robert Frick, chief corporate economist Naval The federal credit union said underlying economic and labor market strength will quickly reverse the decline in job growth reported by the BLS.

“You can’t beat hurricanes,” Frick said in a telephone interview, but historically, “the U.S. economy recovers very quickly after natural disasters, unlike other countries.”

“You have to look at the trend” rather than the monthly jobs snapshot from the BLS report, Frick said, and the trend points to continued job growth for veterans and the general population.

The BLS report for October showed the unemployment rate for veterans at 2.8%, a step up from September’s 2.7% rate. The unemployment rate for the post-9/11 generation of veterans, which tends to fluctuate more than the unemployment rate for all veterans, rose from 2.5% in September to 3.2% in October, the BLS report said.

There was “nothing of note” in the October BLS report that would cause concern for veterans in the job market, said Kevin Rush, regional director of the Wounded Warrior Project’s Warriors to Work initiative.

In a telephone interview, Rush, a former Navy commander, said the September jobs report “may have been an anomaly” after months of BLS surveys showing steady job growth. He added that the post-9/11 veterans’ employment rate of 3.2% is “still a positive indicator.”

The Warriors to Work program, which includes 25 “career coaches” across the country, placed about 1,300 veterans in jobs in the just-ended 2024 fiscal year, Rush said, adding that there is a growing job market for veterans in the drone industry. “The drone industry is evolving,” he said.

A different perspective on the state of the economy and the unemployment rate among veterans was expressed by Will Attig, a former Army sergeant who served two tours in Iraq and is now executive director of the Veterans Union of the AFL-CIO Council.

“From what we’re hearing on the road this year, veterans are struggling economically,” Attig said in a telephone interview from Detroit. “These numbers look great” for the veteran unemployment rate in the October BLS employment report, Attig said, and “job growth over the last four quarters has been tremendous,” but many veterans feel that “they just don’t have the same quality of jobs.” ” which they evaluate.

Connected: Veteran unemployment rate drops sharply amid surprise September hiring

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