Yes, Military Spouse Employment is Important
The beauty of 2023 is that remote work is a lot easier to come by than it used to be. Many companies that had never considered having remote workers in the past were forced to do so in 2020 and have chosen to stick with remote work for the long term, at least on some level. Remote work is a huge plus for military spouse employment.
I work from home and while I had been doing this before 2020 hit, I am glad to see so many others being able to figure out how to do so. Remote work can be great for military spouses, and the flexibility is one reason why. You can be your own boss and go to the entrepreneur route, or work for a company from home.
From those early days as a WAHM, I learned that working from home was definitely all about balance. I needed to figure out how to get all my work done and take care of the baby and the house. A lot of lessons were learned along the way.
And THEN my husband joined the military. Was this going to be an adventure? I wasn’t so sure but I was ready for the life change. We found out he was going to be stationed in Germany.
Europe…of all places!
I was SO excited about this new path we were taking, even though I was pretty scared about all the details and what it would take to get there. In the end, it took us about 4.5 months to join him over there. And I had to give up my eBay business.
Now, at the time, I was glad for the break. I didn’t have to worry about filling orders anymore. I could focus on our move and our son. But in the back of my head, I couldn’t help but think about what I was giving up.
This little business, that I had worked so hard on, had to be put up. At least for the time we were overseas. Why? Because of SOFA and what they allowed and didn’t allow family members to do while living in another country. We couldn’t use the APO mailbox for anything business-related.
When a service member is trying to decide to reenlist in the military, a big factor is the health and well-being of their family members. One big part of this is military spouses and their own career paths. We all know that military life means sacrifice.
We know that military life means having to move often, running the household alone at times, and giving up some of what we want to do, even temporarily. But we also know that being able to chase our own dreams is important which is why military spouse employment matters.
According to the Military Spouse Chamber of Commerce, the military spouse unemployment rate was 22% in 2021. That means that out of the 1 million military spouses, 1 in 4 are unemployed. To compare, the national unemployment rate in 2021 was 4.83%.
As you can see, military spouse employment is an important issue. One that many military spouses have been concerned about for a while. Whether you are a military spouse entrepreneur, having to make changes you don’t want to make to go with your service member to their next duty station, or a military spouse trying to find yet another job, hoping and praying you find something that pays more than $11/hr, military spouse employment issues are important to you.
Volunteering
Volunteering is so very important, it really is. And military spouses do volunteer well. But a question we need to ask ourselves is, is the military depending on volunteering vs offering paid positions? Do people think that military spouses are okay with working for free, filling spots that could otherwise be paid because volunteering is the norm?
If you ask any senior spouse, they will probably tell you of a time when they felt like they are expected to lead some type of group or event simply because of who they are married to. We always say the military is the service member’s career, not the military spouse’s. But then, the culture of military life is that some spouses are expected to step up into these leadership roles.
What if the spouse works full-time? What if they have other obligations? What if they just don’t want to fill that role?
Location-Based Issues
Sometimes a military spouse moves to a new place, and they either can’t find a job or their job literally doesn’t exist there. This can be very frustrating and again, the military spouse has to make some hard decisions.
Should they put that part of their life on hold? Should they stay behind? Should they pivot and try to turn this frustration into something else?
What can be done about this? Sometimes it can feel like the only jobs available are retail and that isn’t the solution for every military spouse.
Employers Won’t Hire Military Spouses
A question that seems to come up in some military spouse groups I am in is if you should mention anything about being a military spouse on your resume or in an interview and the answer is always a big NO. Don’t do it. They don’t need to know this information and in many cases, they won’t hire you because of the fact that you are a military spouse.
But the scary reality is, as soon as a possible employer hears that you might not be sticking around longer than 2-3 years, they might just write you off. They don’t even want to take the chance. But this makes finding the right job when you PCS more difficult, even if you are qualified for that position.
What is the solution to the military spouse employment issue?
What if things could change for the better? What if we could get that military spouse employment rate down? What if military spouses could thrive in their careers during military life instead of feeling as if they can’t possibly move forward while their spouse is actively serving?
There are certain things the government can do. There are things the military can do. There are things we can do to get this figured out. To get military spouse employment to a better place.
We can share our stories, and find out what worked for other military spouses.
We can pay attention to upcoming legislation and changes that have to do with military spouse employment, such as the Military Spouse Hiring Act.
We can start asking more and more questions about what the military community can change and what we can do in the future to make things better.
What about you? What has been your experience with Military Spouse Employment? Have you been able to further your career during military life? What has worked and what hasn’t worked for you?
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