March 14, 2013

Guard & Reserve Employment Challenges Examined

Washington, D.C.  – Today, the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs held a hearing that looked at the unemployment rate and employment challenges among members of the National Guard and Reserves.  Members of the committee also solicited suggestions that witnesses may have for reducing unemployment. Veterans who were on active duty in 2011 had an unemployment rate of 8.3 percent while RC members had a 9.1 unemployment rate.  

“The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the unemployment rate is higher for Guard and Reserve veterans than for active duty veterans. Especially as our nation begins additional troop drawdowns, these veterans will need assistance with navigating the education, training and job opportunities available to them so they can successfully transition back to civilian life. The witnesses today brought forward a number of promising ideas that I look forward to building upon with my colleagues. We owe a great debt of gratitude to these veterans and we should do everything we can to assist them,” said Subcommittee Ranking Member Mark Takano (CA-41).

Today, much attention is paid to the operational reserve concept of employment for the U.S. military Reserve Components (RCs), encompassing the Army and Air National Guard and the Reserves of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard. The operational reserve concept, in which Reserve forces participate routinely and regularly in ongoing military missions, is viewed as a fairly recent development. This concept is distinct from an earlier view in which the RCs were seen mainly as a strategic reserve whose primary role was augmentation and reinforcement of active forces during a major contingency. The notion of an operational reserve developed almost by default, in response to operational needs in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The National Guard and Reserves’ contribution to national defense efforts has risen to almost five times the level it was before 9/11. At their peak use in 2004, national guardsmen and reservists constituted more than 33 percent of all U.S. military forces in Iraq. Since the RCs have been deployed on a more frequent basis, these constant rotations to theater have left many employment gaps for RC members.