This report profiles the demographic and employment characteristics of women veterans and compares these characteristics to those of male veterans, women non-veterans, and male non-veterans. The American Community Survey (ACS) Public Use Microdata Sample, the March Current Population Survey (CPS) Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC), and the August CPS Veterans Supplement were used for this report. The profile on women veterans presented in this report is descriptive only and causal analysis would be needed to explain factors that underlie the labor market outcomes of women veterans.
Key points include:
- A higher percentage of women veterans are African American (19 percent) relative to the women non-veteran population (12 percent) while a lower percentage are of Asian descent (1 percent) or members of other races (5 percent). A lower percentage of women veterans are of Hispanic origin (7 percent) compared to women non-veterans (14 percent).
- Women veterans are more educated than their male counterparts. Some 46 percent of women veterans have Associates Degree, Bachelor’s Degree or higher compared to 34 percent of male veterans who have Associates Degree, Bachelor’s Degree or higher.
- Women veterans are also more likely to have reported some type of disability (20 percent) than women non-veterans (16 percent), but less likely than male veterans (28 percent).
Source: Women Veteran Economic and Employment Characteristics, IMPAC International, LLC, February 2016 (PDF)