Labor Department Website Features Women Vets’ Issues

From a Department of Labor News Release

WASHINGTON, June 20, 2013 – Labor Department officials have launched a new website devoted to issues and challenges affecting women veterans.

The site is a collaborative effort between the Labor Department and the Veterans’ Employment Training Service and the Women’s Bureau.

The site highlights potential challenges that may affect the economic security of women veterans, including:

-- Disability: Women veterans are more likely than their male peers to have a significant service related disability. Thirty-five percent of women veterans have a disability rating of 50 percent or higher as compared with 26 percent of male veterans.

-- Marital: Women veterans are nearly twice as likely to be divorced as male veterans -- 18 percent vs. 10 percent.

-- Single parents: Eleven percent of women veterans are raising children alone, compared to 4 percent of male veterans. While veterans overall have higher median earnings than nonveterans, women veterans still tend to earn nearly $6,000 less annually than their male veteran counterparts.

The site also contains links with information on employment opportunities, education and health care options and data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and other government agencies.