**By Lisa Miller, National Account Executive, RecruitMilitary** From time to time, we receive requests from employers, franchisors, and educational institutions for statistical information on men and women who have military backgrounds. We are always glad to oblige; and herewith, we are providing a guide to our major sources, along with sample statistics. We provide data on four groups of people: 1. active-duty personnel 2. members of the National Guard and reserve forces 3. veterans 4. job seekers who have military backgrounds and have registered in our database ###DEMOGRAPHIC REPORT 2013 Demographics: Profile of the Military Community, published on December 8, 2014, by the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Military Community and Family Policy). This 217-page document describes servicemembers and their families in fiscal year 2013. Included is information on the four Active Duty components of the Department of Defense (DoD) – the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps; the six Reserve components of the DoD – the Army Reserve, Army National Guard, Navy Reserve, Air Force Reserve, Air Force National Guard, and Marine Corps Reserve; and the Coast Guard Reserve, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security. The report has six sections: Total Military Force, Active Duty Members, Reserve and Guard Members, Total Force Families, Active Duty Families, and Reserve and Guard Families. The information includes gender, race/ethnicity, geographic location, age, education, marital status, and personnel separations. Reference tables show basic monthly pay, allowance for subsistence, drill pay, comparative pay grades and ranks, populations of military installations by state, and U.S. military population in foreign nations. The report is available as a [PDF.] (http://www.militaryonesource.mil/12038/MOS/Reports/2013-Demographics-Report.pdf) ###POPULATION REPRESENTATION Population Representation in the Military Services, Fiscal Year 2013, published in 2015 by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Personnel and Readiness, highlights recent and historical personnel trends in the four DoD services. It describes demographic characteristics of applicants, accessions (individuals who joined the services), enlisted personnel and officers; and it includes information on the socioeconomic characteristics of those accessed into the military in fiscal year (FY) 2013. The 51-page Summary Report is available as a [PDF,] (http://poprep.cna.org/2013/summary/summary.pdf) and you can access [links to the tables.] (http://poprep.cna.org/2013/download/download.html) ###MANPOWER REPORT 2013 Defense Manpower Requirements Report, Fiscal Year 2015, published in June 2014 by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness and Force Management, has seven chapters: 1. Department Overview 2. Service and Defense-Level Summaries 3. Officer and Enlisted Flow Data 4. Diversity Demographic Data 5. Medical Manpower Requirements 6. Inventory of Contracts for Services 7. Manpower Request Justifications This 128-page document is available as a [PDF.] (http://prhome.defense.gov/Portals/52/Documents/RFM/TFPRQ/docs/F15%20DMRR.pdf) ###MILITARY OCCUPATIONS The Occupational Outlook Handbook, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), part of the Department of Labor, has [a chapter on military careers.] (http://www.bls.gov/ooh/military/military-careers.htm) A table in that chapter lists numbers of active-duty enlisted personnel in 13 broad occupational groups, arranged by branch of the service. Another table lists numbers of active-duty officers in nine broad occupational groups. The Handbook describes all of the groups in detail. ###VETERAN POPULATION The Veteran Population Projection Model 2014 (VetPop2014) provides the most recent veteran-population projections from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Using the best data available at the end of FY 2013, the model provides counts of living veterans by key demographic characteristics such as age, gender, period of service, race/ethnicity, branch of service, rank, and geographic area. The model can make projections through FY 2043. You can access [tables] (http://www.va.gov/vetdata/veteran_population.asp) that are based on the model. ###VETERAN EMPLOYMENT Employment Situation of Veterans – 2014, published by the BLS on March 28, 2015, is an annual report based on Current Population Survey (CPS) – a monthly survey of about 60,000 households conducted by the Census Bureau to obtain employment and unemployment data on the nation’s civilian noninstitutional population age 16 and over. Also included is additional information about veterans collected in August 2014 – e.g., service-connected disability and National Guard or reserve forces status. The report is available [on the Internet] (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/vet.toc.htm) and as a [PDF.] (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/vet.pdf) “Why Is Veteran Unemployment So High?” a report published in 2014 by RAND Corporation, examines the historical time-series of veteran unemployment, compares the veteran unemployment rate to that of non-veterans, and examines how veteran unemployment varies with time since military separation. The report concludes that the best available evidence supports the hypothesis that relatively high rates of veteran unemployment reflect the fact that veterans, especially younger veterans, are more likely to have recently separated from a job – namely, military service – and, consequently, are more likely to be engaged in job search, which takes time, especially during periods of slow economic growth. Go to [this page] (http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR284.html) to download a PDF, an ePub file, or a mobi file.