WORKFORCE
current employment processes and develop new initiatives to improve upon spouse employment.”
While this guide, developed by Army experts in human resources and Soldier and Family Readiness, is designed to help information become more accessi- ble, it doesn’t aid or change the policies and infrastructural problems at the root of many unemployed spouses—issues like mobility that force spouses to leave their jobs, lack of child care availability on-post; spouse hiring preference job clas- sification (temporary or excepted service versus competitive service) that can end up blocking spouses from jobs and career growth after the “hired” box is checked.
Spouse preference is rarely used for higher level positions, and volunteer positions are often created on post to fill service gaps, contributing to 30 to 50 percent under- employment rates. A spouse’s employment can also be directly tied to the military member’s employment—meaning a spouse can lose their job upon the mili- tary member’s decision to separate from the service—no matter how good an employee they are.
THE DOLDRUMS Even as a DOD civilian, Raulerson learned the hurdles firsthand and experienced how maintaining employment in your career field after becoming a military spouse is no small feat. “When we married, I moved
overseas with him to South Korea,” Raul- erson said, adding that at the time she only had 90 days leave without pay (LWOP) status and was up against the three-year consecutive employment rule for credi- ble federal service, a rule that the Office of Personnel Management has since elim- inated. (The three-year rule required employees to serve three consecutive years, where a break in service more than 30 days meant essentially starting over.) “Tere were very few civilian positions available, but with military spouse preference I was able to gain employment with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as an engineer- ing support assistant. Tis required me to pause my professional dreams of having a successful contracting career, but it was
A PERSISTENT CHALLENGE
Despite many government programs, hiring preferences and education benefits, military spouses have faced a stubborn unemployment rate of about 22 percent for the past decade. (Photo by Rebrand Cities, Pexels)
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