As a whole, the nation added 223,000 jobs last month, with the overall unemployment rate dipping to 5.3 percent, down from the 5.5 percent recorded in May, according to the Bureau for Labor Statistics.
June marks only the third month in history with an unemployment rate for the latest generation of vets below 5.5 percent. May 2015, also with a 5.4 percent rate, was the second, and May 2014, with a record 5.3 percent rate, was the first.
The veteran-specific data is based on surveys with a very small sample size, and as a result, it’s prone to dramatic fluctuations. Still, halfway through the 2015 monthly jobs reports, the trend seems to be historically positive.
All but one of the year’s monthly jobs reports posted numbers below 7 percent, a streak that actually started in November 2014. Before this stretch, there was one three-month period in 2014 with rates below 7 percent. Before that, only one month ever saw a sub-7 percent unemployment rate: back in November 2008.
For veterans of all generations, unemployment hit 4.4 percent in June, down from 5.0 percent in May.
