Young veterans still getting hammered by weak job market

Indeed, older veterans have done somewhat better than non-veterans of the same age during the economic downturn that officially began four years ago this month. For those vets aged 20 to 24, however, the situation is tough. Their unemployment rate this past year has averaged 30 percent, double the rate of other people their age. And it will soon get tougher.

Cpl. Clayton Rhoden, who earned $2500 a month chasing down improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan] now lives with his parents, sells his blood plasma for $80 a week and works what extra duty he can get for his Marine Corps Reserve unit.

Corporal Rhoden, who is 25, gawky and polite with a passion for soldiering, is one of the legions of veterans who served in combat yet have a harder time finding work than other people their age, a situation that officials say will grow worse as the United States completes its pullout of Iraq and as, by a White House estimate, a million new veterans join the work force over the next five years.

At root, obviously, is the fact the economy still sucks. ended: "As the first signs of an economic recovery make the news .

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