Staff members of the Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka Child and Youth Program host a job fair for dependents on May 6, 2025. (James Mitchell/U.S. Navy)
The Pentagon wants leaders in the armed services to do more to combat persistently high military spouse unemployment, which sits at 20% — five times the national average.
To address the disparity, the armed forces are directing senior leaders to maximize the use of hiring flexibilities for military spouses, Anthony Tata, defense undersecretary for personnel and readiness, said in a statement Wednesday on X.
That includes waiving rules that may create challenges for those seeking work overseas.
“Hiring military spouses is smart business and the right thing to do for our warriors & their families,” Tata said. “This immediate change will make it easier for talented military spouses to secure opportunities in the Department.”
Among the obstacles, he said, was that the Department of Defense Education Activity could not extend job offers to military spouses with teaching licenses until 30 days before their permanent change of station move.
That creates “economic insecurity for our military families and unnecessary vacancies in our schools,” Tata said.
Under changes introduced this week, military spouses now can apply and be hired upon receiving official change of station orders, he said.
In a memorandum accompanying the social media post, Tata said DOD must eliminate unnecessary barriers to military spouses joining the civilian workforce.
A yearlong Stars and Stripes investigation published in 2023 found that an overseas assignment meant living on the edge of poverty for thousands of U.S. military families.
The reason for that hardship after being sent to Europe was rooted in a loss of income resulting from U.S. and NATO country prohibitions that keep military spouses from working overseas.
Since then, the U.S. has reached agreements with some European countries, such as Italy, to allow military spouses to work remotely for their American employers. Still, obstacles remain for many overseas spouses.
Tata’s post urged the use of alternative work sites for spouses accompanying military members on orders outside a job’s primary duty location.
In addition, he called on DOD hiring managers to consider military spouses before all other candidates who are ineligible for hiring preferences.
Tata also directed agencies to develop lists of qualified military spouses, including through continuous job announcements not tied to particular vacancies so that human resources teams can fill résumé banks of military spouses they can quickly hire when vacancies open.
The moves come after aggressive attempts by President Donald Trump’s administration to shrink the federal workforce by implementing hiring freezes and offering incentives for resignations and early retirement.
Just over a year ago, after instituting a hiring freeze, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced plans to reduce and restructure the department’s civilian labor force to make it “lean, mean and prepared to win.”
As a result, the DOD saw an exodus of about 10% of its civilian employees last year, shedding about 81,000 of them, the Daily Wire reported in February, citing Pentagon data.
But the restructuring and unfilled vacancies were causing low morale and lost capability, while overseas civilians trying to rotate back stateside faced the prospect of demotions and pay cuts, DefenseOne reported.
A search of the government hiring website USA Jobs on Thursday turned up over 2,300 postings for which military spouses were eligible, with a total of just over 8,000 open to the public.
The unemployment rate in March was at 4.3%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported April 3, with the jobless rate for women at 4%, compared with 3.8% for men.
