Executive Order Aims to Boost Employment for Military Spouses, Puts Focus on Flexibility
For families in the U.S military, it is not easy for a military spouse to obtain and hold a job, especially with military families frequently relocating, and military spouses often caring for children and other needs.
The Biden Administration says “Nearly one in five military families cite challenges with spousal employment as a reason when considering leaving active-duty service.”
The Labor Department further reports that the unemployment rate in May was 21 percent for military spouses, compared to 3.7 percent for the general population.
Now the administration is hoping to make it easier for military spouses to find jobs that are portable and allow them to build a sustainable career, even with frequent moves.
On Friday, June 9, 2023, President Biden signed an executive order aimed at promoting the employment for military spouses.
The Executive Order on Advancing Economic Security for Military and Veteran Spouses, Military Caregivers, and Survivors, directs executive departments and agencies to “strengthen their ability to recruit, hire, develop, promote, and retain this skilled and diverse pool of talent.”
President Biden signed the order while visiting Fort Liberty in North Carolina, one of the nation’s largest military bases.
"This new executive order establishes the most comprehensive set of administrative actions in our nation’s history to support the economic security of military families, veterans’ spouses, caregivers and survivors,” the president said before signing the order. “[Those] actions boil down into three main goals: more flexibility, more support and more resources.”
The order points out that the federal government employs more than 16,000 military, veteran, and surviving spouses and that the federal government is an obvious potential employer for many military spouses.
Among the directives contained in the order:
· The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) must draft a strategic plan on military spouse hiring and retention within 180 days. The strategic plan should include “plans for marketing the talent, experience, and diversity of military and veteran spouses, caregivers, and survivors to agencies and encouragement for agencies to set benchmarks to improve performance and accountability.”
· Directs agencies to include spouses eligible under the Military Spouse Noncompetitive Appointment authority when soliciting external applications. Agencies are also directed to increase federal job postings using the authority.
· Sets standards to improve the Domestic Employee Teleworking Overseas (DETO) program. Agencies are ordered to develop common standards, timelines, and communication guidelines. The program helps employees work remotely from foreign locations, helping military families retain jobs even if they’re moved to another country.
· Improve access to childcare by implementing Dependent Care Flexible Saving Accounts for service members no later than January 1, 2024, as well as expansion of pathways for military spouses to provide home-based childcare on military installations.
· Encourages flexibility measures, such as guidelines on telework, and leave upon relocation.
· Directs the Small Business Administration (SBA) to develop resources to help military spouses start/move a business upon relocation and to help find funding.
· Improve the collection of data on the military population to learn more about job patterns.
· Directs all federal agencies to provide training for human resources personnel and hiring managers on the employment of military and veteran spouses, caregivers, and survivors.
· Employment support for military spouses transitioning out of the military.
Most of the ideas come from Joining Forces, a White House initiative to increase support to military families, headed by First Lady Jill Biden.
“We’re asking agencies to make it easier for spouses employed by the federal government to take administrative leave, telework and move offices. We’re creating resources to support entrepreneurs. And the executive order helps agencies and companies retain military spouses through telework or when they move abroad,” said First Lady Jill Biden.