Military Spouse Hiring Act: Congress needs to hear your voice
The National Military Family Association needs your help to get Congress to pass key legislation that addresses military spouse unemployment: the Military Spouse Hiring Act.
The military spouse unemployment rate has been shockingly high—22-24% over the past decade, according to the Department of Defense (DoD)—much higher than that of the civilian population. This is due to the challenges associated with the military lifestyle, particularly military mandated-moves every two to three years, significantly affecting spouses’ ability to secure and maintain meaningful employment.
The Military Spouse Hiring Act is one of several tools to address the spouse unemployment rate. It will incentivize employers to hire more military spouses via a tax credit for those employers. The bill establishes a new target group for military spouses under the Work Opportunity Tax Credit program, initially created in 1996 to support employment for American job seekers who face high barriers to employment. Under the bill, employers may claim a one-off tax credit of up to $2400 for every military spouse they hire.
The National Military Family Association, together with our friends at the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) and Hiring Our Heroes, has been working hard with our advocacy to Congress to build support for the Military Spouse Hiring Act. Many legislators have signed on, but more support will be needed to pass these bills.
We know that Representatives and Senators listen to their constituents—hearing from you makes a difference in their support for these bills. Call, email, or write your legislator’s office today to tell them you want their support for this legislation. To see if your legislators have already signed on to support the bill, check the cosponsor lists on Congress.gov for both the House bill (H.R. 2974) and the Senate bill (S. 3909). To find your Representative or Senator and how to contact them directly, visit Congress.gov and search by your state or address. You can also submit an automatically prepared email via MOAA’s Congressional outreach campaign for the Military Spouse Hiring Act.
Please help military spouses build their careers! I love our military family, but I love working and being part of a work community. Unlike many spouses, I have managed to continue working throughout my husband’s career. But with each move, I have been forced to start over – in terms of pay and benefits. With 26 years professional working experience, BS and MA degrees, I make $14,000 LESS annually than I did when I married into the military and my retirement savings is a pittance because most organizations don’t include retirement until you’re a year in. This would be unacceptable in any other circumstance, but is pretty normal for military spouses IF they’ve been able to work at all. Help us!
Being stationed in a remote location and not having access to base resources has made it even harder to find a job in a community that is not very familiar with the military family lifestyle. I was able to find a job on contract and am now job searching again, we have only been here a year.
This is a great incentive plan. Additional suggestions: 1) make sure the location requirement for military spouse preference in federal hiring is dropped or at minimum extended https://www.federaltimes.com/management/hr/2021/09/20/opm-temporarily-drops-relocation-requirements-for-special-military-spouse-hiring/
2) allow military spouses to be hired at overseas assignments without using excepted service but rather MSP. Currently if a military spouse is hired for federal employment while overseas there is no way to become a permanent internal candidate for future jobs
3) allow for a hiring program in federal service that allows military spouses of retiring and separating military members to apply for federal service jobs and be selected. I suggest using a preference like Peace Corps does which gives a preference for hiring for 2 years after PC service. Perhaps 1 year would be a good middle ground to over spouses of military separating/retiring members. This would give spouses the chance to be hired in federal service for a limited time after the leaving military .
These ideas all lead to the stability of military families in which spouses are qualified candidates and the current systems do not offer employment stability
Hello, I am an active-duty spouse with a PCS to Arlington VA. I am looking for a work from home job for some income. I am a recently retired “on-site” Beauty Professional. Also have some medical background. Open to any at home telework. Trying to find the right job that I could utilize my knowledge in
by working from home has been challenging.
Guinevere, Have you applied for any jobs at Instant Teams? Fully remote and owned by military spouses. Definitely take a look!
As an employer always seeking great hires, I support efforts to hire military spouses (and of course servicemen and women).
Military Spouse of 17 years can’t even find a remote position to stay home with our Special Needs Daughter of 24 years old . We are fixing lose everything including our child . We need help !
As a military spouse for almost 20 years, I have experienced the ongoing challenge of un and under employment. Despite holding two advanced degrees, I have constantly had to reinvent myself with each new assignment. As my husband approaches retirement, my employment prospects are central to our discussion of his future in the service. Anything that Congress can do to improve hiring for military spouses would be paradigm shifting for thousands of skilled men and women who already servce.
Please do this for us. It is almost impossible to live of one income, and its even harder in the military. Please help us take care of our families!
Passing this act is so very important. My husband has been retired since 1995, but while he was active duty raising our daughters and making sure they were fed and clothed was a struggle. No one wants to hire a spouse because we move frequently. Please help put an end to this!!
As a military wife to an active duty coast guardsman I find it extremely difficult to find jobs having to move every 3-4 years. I have a bachelors and a masters degree in hospitality and business management and still struggle to find a job that will not only cover the cost of childcare for my son but also cover food and necessities now that my husbands job only covers the rent and monthly bills.