Survey Gives Glimpse Into Minds of Recent Veterans

Survey Gives Glimpse Into Minds of Recent Veterans
By JAMES DAO
March 26, 2012

The 2012 edition of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America’s annual survey of its members came out on Monday. The largest such survey by the group to date, its results provide some interesting insights into what’s on the minds of recent veterans today.

Not surprisingly, the survey found that employment, mental health, disability benefits, health care, education (including the G.I. Bill), suicide and families — in that order — were the top concerns of the more than 4,200 members who responded.

Nearly 17 percent said they were unemployed when they took the survey in January, a higher rate than was documented by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which put the veterans’ unemployment rate for January at 9 percent.

Of those who are working, 37 percent said they worked for the government at some level, far outpacing the second largest industry listed, health care and pharmaceuticals, which tallied 8 percent. Similarly, of those looking for work, the largest group, about a quarter, said they wanted to find jobs in government.

In its summary of the survey, I.A.V.A. noted that because many local, state and federal agencies have been trimming their work forces, “the threat to veteran employment may grow.”

More than one in three respondents, 37 percent, said they knew someone who had committed suicide, down slightly from last year’s result. Asked if the person who committed suicide was serving or had separated from the military, respondents were almost evenly divided: 30 percent said the person had separated when the act occurred; 27 percent said the person was serving but not deployed; 25 percent said the person was serving and deployed. Another 11 percent said the person was in the National Guard and not deployed.
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