Post-9/11 veteran unemployment down again in September

Unemployment for the latest generation of veterans ticked down again in September, continuing to hover near record-low territory, according to new government data.

Just 4.4 percent of post-9/11 veterans looking for work were unable to find any in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That beats the previous month's 4.7 percent rate, as well as the September 2015 rate of 5 percent.

For the nation as a whole, unemployment was at 5 percent in September, changed little from the previous month's 4.9 percent, while 156,000 new jobs were created.
That national unemployment rate, though the best known national jobs measure, is seasonally adjusted and thus a poor comparison for the not-seasonally-adjusted veteran unemployment rates. A better comparison is the nonveteran unemployment rate, which stood at 4.7 percent in September, slightly higher than the 4.4 percent rate for post-9/11 vets.

The September rate is just a few ticks above the lowest unemployment rate ever recorded for the group, which was 4.0 percent this May.

For veterans of all generations, unemployment was 4.3 percent in September, the same as the previous month.