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Military spouses are forced to adapt to challenges that those outside the military rarely face. Between relocating every few years, managing households, raising children alone during deployments, and learning to live without their partner for months at a time, military spouses make marked sacrifices. Unfortunately, one of the most significant sacrifices military spouses make is that of giving up their careers to support their active service members wherever their
military career may take them.
According to the Department of Defense, military spouse unemployment has been more than seven times the national average for over a decade. In 2019, military spouses faced a staggering 22% unemployment rate and 26% wage gap when compared to their non-military peers. Currently and due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, both unemployment and the wage gap among military spouses are on the rise.
When asked about the challenges they face, military spouses cite multiple factors that hinder their ability to pursue careers. For many, moving every two to three years creates a significant obstacle to career development and growth. For others, the distance from family and difficulty finding reliable and affordable childcare make it impossible to consider full time employment.
Those in professions that require certifications and licenses, such as nurses and teachers, which account for approximately 34% of military spouses, cite that the costs and recertification processes, which are often state-specific, can be prohibitive, especially when they don’t know how long their spouse will remain at each duty station.
A study by Blue Star Families, an organization established in 2009 with the goal of “empowering military families to thrive as they serve,” found that the reduced labor force participation among military spouses costs the U.S. economy almost $1 billion per year. The cost to military families is also significant. With home prices on the rise, housing shortages on military installations, and inflation rates climbing, many military families require two incomes to meet their financial and lifestyle goals.
Yet, with the obstacles they face, military spouses are often forced into involuntary part time employment, direct sales, and other less lucrative forms of employment. Many remain unemployed because finding the right match seems impossible and opportunities vary greatly from one location to another.
While representing a notable loss for the economy and for military families themselves, military spouse underemployment also represents a loss for employers. Per Blue Star Families, approximately 45% of military spouses, 92% of which are female, have bachelor's or advanced degrees in contrast to about 33% in the general population. Military spouses possess extensive skills that would benefit a wide range of workplaces and industries.
Their ability to navigate the demands of a military lifestyle while pursuing fulfilling work proves that they are driven and mission-focused. The skills they develop while managing their homes, coordinating relocations, caring for their families, and supporting their spouse in what is an exceptionally demanding profession, demonstrate their adaptability, dedication, and perseverance, qualities from which a wide range of businesses and organizations can truly benefit.
Reflecting on Veterans Day – as a veteran whose grandfather, father, and stepfather served along with an uncle, severely wounded in Vietnam, and now a nephew on active duty – the day has significant meaning to me. But what about the majority of the population who has no connection to the military? What does it mean for them, and would you be shocked or surprised to hear someone say it has no meaning at all other than a free day off from work?
November 11th was declared Veterans Day (first named Armistice Day) in June 1954. Veterans Day is a day in which ALL Americans can pause, even for a second, and be thankful for the military for protecting our freedom, engaging in diplomacy around the world, creating goodwill and serving voluntarily, no questions asked. It is also a day when veterans can see their link to the past. Even those who have been separated for many years will think of their service on Veterans Day.
So, while we are celebrating and appreciating our active duty service members and veterans this month, here are some sobering points from the LinkedIn Veterans Opportunity Report:
Yet, those employers should take note:
Veteran underemployment has severe consequences, and not just for the veteran. The impact carries through their families, their communities and our businesses. Underemployment of veterans actually ends up costing the employer more in the long run. Awareness is a start, but it shouldn’t end there.
There are many actions employers can take to ensure veterans aren’t being left out. It will take less time for a hiring manager to call and ask a veteran to give a brief of their skills than it will to wade through thousands of applicants who did make it through the filters but are not even remotely qualified.
Companies must shift and allow their hiring managers the freedom to explore a military veteran’s background. The return on investment will be exponentially greater when on average, veterans perform at higher levels and have lower turnover.
Today and every day, we are thankful for ALL veterans as we live in the land of the Free because of the Brave.
In addition to the skills and talents Military Veterans can bring to a company, did you know that they can also help your business earn tax credits?
Businesses that hire eligible unemployed Military Veterans can take advantage of a Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC), available to privately-held, publicly-held, and certain tax-exempt organizations.
After recent changes, The Returning Heroes Tax Credit now provides incentives of up to $5,600 for hiring unemployed veterans, and the Wounded Warriors Tax Credit doubles the existing Work Opportunity Tax Credit for long-term unemployed veterans with service-connected disabilities, to up to $9,600.
Here are the various Military Veteran-related tax credits your company could qualify for:
Regardless of the Military Veterans you hire, your company will benefit, financially in productivity and engagement as well as these great tax credits.
Interested in hiring Military Veterans? Get started here!
Every company wants to find candidates who have leadership skills, a strong work ethic, problem-solving skills, and the ability to work in a team. Who do those skills define? Veterans. So why do veterans struggle to find employment after their military service? In the 2016 Veteran Hiring Report, iCIMS reported the top reasons veterans haven’t applied or accepted a job. Among them, “56 percent of veterans reported not being satisfied with the salary or benefits offered. 41 percent didn’t think they had enough training or education to do the job and 28 percent stated they were concerned about their ability to ‘sell myself’ in an interview.” The common denominator is that veterans are often unaware of and reluctant to promote their capabilities or speak to their transferable skills.
On the employer side, civilians often have difficulty understanding what veterans did in the military and how those skills and experiences can benefit a company. Hiring managers and recruiters don’t look beyond the military occupation title. While 85 percent of military occupations have a direct civilian equivalent, the other 15 percent also have transferable and highly sought-after skills. Hours, weeks, and years of training equate to skills in such areas as identifying requirements, inventory management, safety, hydraulic systems, quality control/assurance, and compliance. Even when companies recruit and hire veterans, they are failing to make the most of those veterans’ talents and experiences, which contributes to underemployment, high levels of frustration, and even boredom. By gaining an understanding of the top skills veterans hold, employers can tap into this talent and ensure they are providing a challenging and rewarding career path.
Employers, veterans advocates, and policymakers should recognize and act on the business case for hiring veterans. If employers want to take advantage of the best of this talent pool, they need to put in a little extra effort by connecting with veterans and finding out what they bring to the table. It will be time well spent.
Veterans ASCEND is an innovative system that matches employers with veterans based on skills. To learn more go to www.veteransascend.com, call 864-887-5865, or email talent@veteransascend.com.
A big part of serving in America’s military is moving across the country, and sometimes overseas. For those tens of thousands of military spouses and families, this usually means they move with their servicemember as well. Over the course of a long career, this can mean families pick up and move several times. Each of these moves disrupts families’ lives, including the spouse’s career. Oftentimes, military spouses get discouraged when moving because they have to start their career over again, while their military servicemember presses on with theirs.
Military spouses are at a disadvantage when competing for jobs at new locations because their resumes often indicate the frequent moves, gaps in work history, and lack of career progression. To a hiring manager, their resume may give the impression that the person is a job hopper who can’t stick around long enough to advance. On goes this cycle which suppresses the spouse’s wages. Did you know that military spouses earn, on average, 38% less than their civilian counterpart? This situation can have implications for military families when deciding whether to stay in our voluntary forces.
As an employer, the next time you need to fill a talent need, consider hiring a military spouse. Here’s five reasons why:
Employers across our nation understand the sacrifices military families make, Many want to help but may not know how. Is your organization military spouse friendly?
To learn more about what Veterans ASCEND is doing to help military spouses, check out the information below, or the video at the following link: https://ifundwomen.com/projects/support-military-spouses
Veterans ASCEND is in the process of raising funding to build a platform just for Military Spouse employment. Just like our Veteran skills-matching platform, Military Spouses have their own set of skills and experience unique to military family life.
If you’re an employer, we offer excellent rewards to our business sponsors:
$250 or more
Reward: Captain
Three month Basic subscription on Veterans ASCEND. ($450 value)
$500 or more
Reward: Colonel
Three month Banner subscription on Veterans ASCEND ($750 value) and recognition on our website.
$1,000 or more
Reward: One Star
One year Basic subscription on Veterans ASCEND ($1,800 value), recognition on social media and our website.
$2,000 or more
Reward: Two Star
One year Banner subscription on Veterans ASCEND ($3,000 value), recognition on social media and our website.
$3,000 or more
Reward: Three Star
One year Brass subscription on Veterans ASCEND ($4,800 value), recognition on social media and our website.
We would be honored to have you support our efforts to support military families and help companies hire Military Spouses.
If you’re a business owner, CEO, recruiting agent, or in charge of hiring at your company, there’s one powerful, obvious reason that you should hire U.S. Military Veterans.
Over the last few months, we’ve had droves of businesses in various industries jumping on this opportunity to focus heavily on hiring Veterans. We truly wanted to understand why our platform was so popular. We discovered that it wasn’t because our system is modern, easy to use, and affordable – although those certainly were benefits.
The reason? Tax credits.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has developed the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) for employers who hire specific groups of individuals. The following information was sourced from IRS.gov:
The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) is a Federal tax credit available to employers for hiring individuals from certain targeted groups who have consistently faced significant barriers to employment.
WOTC joins other workforce programs that incentivize workplace diversity and facilitate access to good jobs for American workers.
The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (the PATH Act) retroactively allows eligible employers to claim the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) for all targeted group employee categories that were in effect prior to the enactment of the PATH Act, if the individual began or begins work for the employer after December 31, 2014 and before January 1, 2020. For tax-exempt employers, the PATH Act retroactively allows them to claim the WOTC for qualified veterans who begin work for the employer after December 31, 2014 and before January 1, 2020.
The PATH Act also added a new targeted group category to include qualified long-term unemployment recipients.
Employers must hire “qualified Veterans” to receive a tax credit:
A “qualified Veteran” is a veteran who is any of the following:
This information was one of the most powerful reasons employers sign up with Veterans ASCEND, primarily because so few employers take advantage of this opportunity. Hiring agencies and talent acquisition departments are scrambling to take this opportunity, and we’re here to help.
Hiring Veterans that are qualified for the positions that your company needs filled can be a challenging task. That’s why we’ve put together a state-of-the-art skills matching platform that allows you to unlock profiles. Join our mission and hundreds of other employers hiring Veterans by signing up today! To sign up, please visit https://www.veteransascend.com/users/signup/