Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Not Forgotten

With the economy going great guns, the unemployment rate is down for everybody . . . everybody except for one group, the forgotten group of military spouses. Compared to a 5% unemployment rate nationally, the unemployment rate for military spouses is more than triple that, at 18%. The Department of Defense estimates that there are 641,639 military spouses, with 13% being dual military and with 87% of spouses being civilian spouses. Approximately 70% of these civilian spouses are less than 35 years old, and this is the forgotten group with high unemployment. One can understand why the unemployment rate is higher in this group as the active duty member is often deployed leaving the spouse as a functioning single parent. Likewise the fact that military families often move every two to three years makes the spouse an unattractive candidate for long term employment at any one company.

Blue Star Families, an organization that coordinates services for military families and spouses, has called on companies to do more to battle against a real problem for this forgotten group – military-spouse unemployment. Not all military spouses are the same as far as the likelihood of getting hired when their family is relocated. Whereas those in computer related fields as well as those in diverse parts of the medical fields have a much better chance of securing new employment after a move, oftentimes those families that are at the lower end of the military pay scale need the spouse’s income the most, and often these are the less well educated spouses. They need someone to get a clutch hit for them.
Stepping up to the plate . . . WalMart, who already in 2013 made a pledge to hire 250,000 veterans by 2020, and who are on track to surpass that goal next year.
On 11/12/18 as reported by the Associated Press, WalMart announced a new initiative called “Military Spouse Career Connection” under which they are going to start giving a hiring preference to this forgotten group of military spouses. WalMart already offers military veterans and spouses the ability to transfer from one WalMart to another when a military active duty spouse is transferred, and now it will be going out of its way to hire this forgotten group!
Kudos to WalMart . . . a home run!

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