In my first LinkedIn article, Employment Challenges as a Military Spouse Abroad: My Experience in Belgium, I shared that I founded the Championing for Military Spouse Employment page on Facebook. In Belgium, I secured a job on the NATO base, but when I left that role, I faced even greater difficulty finding a second job due to the constraints of living overseas. Status of Forces Agreements (SOFA) and NATO SOFA limited my options. Utilizing my Google Alerts for daily news on military spouse employment, I shared insights on the page to connect with others facing similar hurdles. The experience abroad opened my eyes to the struggles that military spouses continue to endure with employment. I am now determined to dig deeper.

In article 3, Flexible Work for Military Spouses, you journeyed with me through the broader career challenges I have faced over 22 years. The journey encompasses many moves and struggles in finding employment. This weekend, as I reflected on those years of employment woes, particularly the struggle to find that second job in Belgium, I realized I needed to move beyond my story and dive into the data. I want to answer the following questions: What does the data say about unemployment rates? What metrics are being tracked to measure progress? And most importantly, what is the way forward so military spouses can build meaningful, sustainable careers?

Location plays a role, as noted in the 2020 article by Deloitte Insights, Military spouse unemployment. The article highlights how specific U.S. base locations make finding employment challenging. Military spouses stationed OCONUS face even greater barriers, navigating SOFA and NATO SOFA, which dictate what employment is allowed. In Belgium, these agreements restricted me to U.S. government jobs, and after leaving my first job, my options were limited. Deloitte also recommends following through with the 2020 NDAA for Interstate Licensing Compacts. Additionally, they suggest programming for entrepreneurs.

A 2024 Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) article, Leading From the Front: MOAA Commits to Fight Military Spouse Unemployment, iterates the importance of collecting appropriate data to analyze solutions and evaluate programs to justify funding. MOAA also acknowledges the struggles of spouses OCONUS, noting that “..status of forces agreements in many countries still severely restrict work opportunities for currently serving spouses.”

In upcoming articles, I’ll explore these challenges through a historical lens, past and present initiatives through various departments/entities to understand their impact. I’ll also look at specific barriers that result from frequent PCSes, both CONUS and OCONUS. Finally, I’ll propose some solutions based on my 22 years as a U.S. Navy spouse. My goal with these articles is to spark dialogue and share the data as I understand it. I’m awaiting data from a couple of sources, which will further inform this work as I analyze the numbers. Military spouses deserve careers that match their talents—join me in exploring how we can make that a reality.

Originally published on LinkedIn on April 21, 2025. [Read it here]