Unemployment among National Guard and reserve members has declined, a senior civilian Pentagon official told members of the House Economic Opportunity subcommittee during a March 14 hearing. "The most recent status of forces survey went out to 113,000 Reserve component members at a 26 percent response rate and the figures we’re seeing now are 11 percent … for the general population of Guard and Reserve members," said Ronald G. Young, who manages employment issues at the Defense Department’s reserve-affairs office. Overall unemployment among the reserve component sits at 13.1 percent; among enlisteds in ranks E-1 through E-4, the unemployment rate is 23 percent, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics figures. "The trail line is clearly in the right direction, however, the job is not complete," Young told lawmakers.
