Recent Trends in Veteran Unemployment as Measured in the Current Population Survey and the American Community Survey

This technical report explores recent trends in the unemployment of recent veterans as estimated from two nationally representative surveys, the Current Population Survey "CPS" and the American Community Survey "ACS". Analyses of CPS data indicates that veteran youth unemployment increased relative to nonveteran youth unemployment between 2003 and 2005 "and that this relative increase is statistically significant" and that veteran youth unemployment decreased between 2005 and 2006. However, analysis of ACS unemployment data also draws into question whether veteran youth unemployment in fact increased relative to nonveteran youth unemployment between 2003 and 2005. While veteran youth unemployment did increase in the ACS data between 2003 and 2004, it fell between 2004 and 2005, and none of those changes in unemployment rates relative to changes in nonveteran youth unemployment rates is statistically significant.