Census Bureau Releases New Veteran Employment Outcomes

The U.S. Census Bureau today released an expanded version of Veteran Employment Outcomes (VEO), an experimental data product showing earnings and employment outcomes for veterans of the U.S. armed forces.

Launched in 2020, VEO initially covered labor market outcomes for U.S. Army veterans. The update expands VEO coverage to also include data on Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard veterans discharged between 2002 and 2021. (There are not statistics available yet for members of the Space Force, established in December 2019.) These data show earnings and employment outcomes of more than 2.8 million formerly enlisted service members.

Coverage includes labor market outcomes one, five and 10 years after discharge, by military occupation, rank, demographics, industry and geography of employment. Among the findings, veterans with more specialized military training and work experience had higher civilian earnings and employment rates than infantry and combat veterans.