Study: Military spouses unemployment rate 26 percent

The unemployment rate of military spouses was at 26 percent in June 2011, according to a report released Thursday from a veterans’ advocacy group.

The report on military families from Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) found the high unemployment rate was one of a number of challenges for veterans, their spouses and children.

The study also found that 37 of survey respondents whose husbands deployed had been diagnosed with at least one mental health disorder. Foreclosures in military zip codes increased 32 percent between 2008 and 2010, according to the report.

IAVA said the high unemployment rate shows the effect that a decade of deployments has caused.

“As the Iraq war ends, the strain of multiple deployments and the economic crisis are hitting home for military families,” Paul Rieckhoff, IAVA founder and executive director, said in a statement.