Women often face lower salaries and longer unemployment periods than men when seeking employment after military service, according to a report by Hire Heroes USA. 

“Since our first Hire Heroes report, we've identified pay disparities based on gender and have been working to gain a greater understanding of the causes of those disparities,” said Jason Dozier, Hire Heroes’ director of program operations and evaluation, in a press release.

The report found male military members earned 17.42% more in the civilian workforce than female military members in 2019. That same year, Hire Heroes’ male clients made 22.73% more than women—a 1.75% increase from the previous year.

Women also reported being unemployed longer, which suggests the “job search process can be particularly difficult for women veterans,” the press release says. 

On average, women experience unemployment six weeks longer than male counterparts, according to the report. The duration also varied by race, as Black, Hispanic and Asian clients reported longer unemployed periods than white clients.

"Unfortunately, that gap continues to widen, but we feel like we have a better understanding of which factors are creating those challenges, and what we can do as an organization to better prepare our female clients for success in the civilian workforce,” Dozier said.

Among the more than 7,000 companies that employed Hire Heroes clients in 2019, the Army was ranked second for the number of female military members it hired, behind only the Department of Veterans Affairs, the report says. 

The recently published report analyzed data from more than 60,000 transitioning service members, veterans and military spouses who registered for job-seeking services with Hire Heroes. 

Of the report’s reserve component respondents, 70% were from the Army Reserve and Army National Guard.

Read the full report here.