Clatsop County’s low unemployment rate may be making life easier for job-hungry military veterans, who account for a relatively large percentage of the local population.
The county is home to 3,800 veterans, or about 10 percent of the population. Roughly 7 percent of all U.S. citizens, by comparison, are veterans.
From 2011 to 2015, the unemployment rate among veterans in the Clatsop County was 6.4 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Overall unemployment in the county was 7.1 percent. While up-to-date data about veteran joblessness is incomplete, the entire county recorded a much lower unemployment rate — 3.6 percent — this June, according to the Oregon Employment Department. If a similar trend held for veterans, it would mean a little more than 100 total veterans are seeking work.
Economists define an unemployed person as someone actively looking for work but who is unable to find it. Underemployment, however, is not as easy to quantify, said Patrick Preston, a disabled veterans employment representative for the Employment Department who served in the U.S. Army.
Unemployment statistics do not address the number of veterans who may not be seeking work or those who are employed solely on a seasonal basis. Therefore, even homeless veterans in some cases do not meet the criteria for unemployment.
“It’s a reflection of the general population,” Preston said. “Those who want to work are working.”
The effects of low unemployment among veterans were on display Tuesday in Astoria.
After seeing other organizations take action a few months ago, Lower Columbia Human
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