Ninety-six days after arriving at Camp Pendleton, California, for her family’s third permanent change of station, Michelle Pasco is still searching for work.
She left behind a teaching career she loved in San Antonio, Texas. Since arriving in California, Pasco has spent months navigating state credentialing requirements including additional coursework, English learner authorization and California-specific licensing before she can return to the classroom.
“The fastest way to get ghosted after a job interview is by telling them you’re a military spouse,” Pasco said. “They’ll say, ‘You’ve lived in a lot of places,’ and then comes the awkward, ‘Yeah … I’m a military spouse.’ That’s why I’ve had jobs in different states. After that, I usually don’t hear from them again.”
Repeated rejection has taken a toll.
“I had a full breakdown today because it’s never been this hard,” she said. “I have three degrees and more than 10 years of experience, and people look at me like I have nothing to offer.”
Pasco isn’t alone. Military spouse employment has become a recurring concern for military leaders, lawmakers and military family organizations, which have increasingly linked spouse employment to family financial stability, quality of life and retention.
In efforts to address the issue, Congress has advanced bipartisan legislation, the Defense Department has expanded employment programs and nonprofit organizations and private employers have invested heavily in helping military spouses enter the workforce.
Even so, the Military Family Advisory Network’s 2025 Military Family 360 Report, released in June, found unemployment among active-duty spouses actively seeking work climbed to 29.9% in 2025, up from 21.8% in 2023.
A decade of attention
Congress has spent more than a decade trying to reduce the employment barriers military spouses face.
Lawmakers expanded federal hiring preferences, supported interstate occupational licensing reforms and backed Defense Department programs intended to ease employment transitions after permanent change-of-station moves.
More recently, bipartisan lawmakers introduced the Military Spouse Hiring Act, which would add military spouses to the federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit and offer employers a tax incentive to hire them.
The legislation has not become law, but Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., said his office is now pursuing the proposal through broader legislation to reauthorize and expand the Work Opportunity Tax Credit.
“The problem of military spouse unemployment and underemployment is a difficult one to easily solve,” Beyer told Military Times.
Frequent relocations, assignments to rural or economically depressed communities, deployments and unpredictable military schedules continue to disrupt careers in ways most civilian families never experience, he said.
Beyer said Congress has made progress, pointing to expanded hiring preferences and growing employer engagement, while acknowledging that legislation alone has not consistently translated into better outcomes.
“A consistent challenge has been in the implementation of various well-meaning federal initiatives,” he said.
Federal hiring preferences have created opportunities, Beyer said, but lengthy hiring timelines, limited awareness of available programs and complicated eligibility requirements often reduce their impact for military spouses who may relocate again within a few years.
“We can and should do better in holding ourselves accountable in measuring progress and changing course if a specific program is falling short,” he said.
Barriers remain
MFAN’s 2025 Military Family 360 Report found unemployment among active-duty spouses actively seeking work increased sharply over the past two years, while 55.9% reported being underemployed, meaning they earned less than they needed, worked fewer hours than they wanted or held positions below their education or level of experience.
Shannon Razsadin, chief executive officer of the Military Family Advisory Network said, “What’s remained consistent is the structural nature of the challenge itself.”
Blue Star Families reached a similar conclusion through a three-year longitudinal study conducted with Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families. Despite being a highly educated population, only 22% of participating military spouses maintained full-time employment throughout the study, even though 43% held advanced degrees.
Researchers found that repeated PCS moves, child care challenges, occupational licensing requirements and the demands of military life continued to interrupt careers long after spouses entered the workforce.
“One of the biggest misunderstandings is that military spouse employment is primarily a job-search problem,” said Lindsay Knight, chief impact officer at Blue Star Families. “It is more accurately a career-continuity problem.”
The organization’s research also found that military spouses often accepted positions below their qualifications because those jobs offered greater flexibility or were easier to leave when military orders arrived. Child care repeatedly emerged as a deciding factor in whether spouses accepted promotions, reduced their hours or left the workforce altogether.
Beyond getting hired
As senior vice president of programs and events at Hiring Our Heroes, Elizabeth O’Brien has spent more than a decade helping military spouses connect with employers. During that time, she has watched opportunities expand in ways that were difficult to imagine when she entered the field.
“If there has been a time to be a military spouse that wants to enter the workforce, there’s better opportunity now than there has ever been,” she said.
Remote work has expanded. Employer partnerships have grown. Programs such as the Department of Defense’s SpouseWorks program (formerly SECO), have broadened access to fellowships and career services.
Still, O’Brien cautioned against expecting legislation alone to solve the problem.
“I don’t know that Congress can legislate everything that needs to happen,” she said.
Military spouses often navigate challenges that extend well beyond the hiring process. Frequent moves interrupt professional networks. Occupational licensing requirements differ from state to state. Child care availability can determine whether a spouse is able to accept or keep a job. Even resume screening systems can struggle to interpret employment histories shaped by repeated relocations.
O’Brien agreed with researchers who argue that maintaining a career has become as important as finding the next job.
“I agree with the goal of career continuity,” she said. “But we have to start at the very beginning before we can get there”
O’Brien believes employers also have an opportunity to think differently about retention. Rather than measuring success solely by whether a military spouse remains with one company, O’Brien said industries should work together to retain talent across employers when military families relocate.
A financial professional who moves from one institution to another after a PCS, for example, has continued building a career even if the employer changes.
“If the industry is working together,” she said, “the military spouse has a better opportunity for career continuity.”
The stakes extend beyond professional fulfillment. Blue Star Families found 77% of military families now rely on two incomes to meet their financial needs, up from 63% in 2019.
Interrupted careers can delay promotions, reduce earning potential and make it more difficult for families to regain financial footing after each move.
For Pasco, those realities are measured one application at a time.
Every PCS has meant rebuilding professional relationships, learning another state’s requirements and explaining why her resume spans multiple duty stations instead of a single community.
“I’m not asking for special treatment,” she said. “I just want someone to look at my experience and see what I can actually do.”
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