SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- An executive order signed by President Trump Wednesday may help San Diego's military spouses find work.
The executive order is aimed at increasing opportunities for military spouses to obtain federal jobs.
The order encourages agencies to increase use of the noncompetitive hiring authority for military spouses.
For military spouses, the unemployment rate is 16 percent which is four times higher than the national average for female adults. Among military spouses who do have jobs, 14 percent have part-time jobs and half of those spouses want full-time work.
Many spouses of military members choose careers like teaching, nursing or law, but such jobs often have state-specific licenses that make it difficult to move from state to state.
“Right now I’m looking at leaving my career because the exams and licensing costs are phenomenal never mind how poorly the education system is run; right from resources to teacher pay,” Sheryl Ogle said in a Facebook comment.
According to an impact study conducted by the San Diego Military Advisory Council, there are more than 100,000 active-duty military members in San Diego. The service members are split fairly evenly between the Navy and Marines.
In a phone call Wednesday morning, a White House official says the new order directs agencies to make an existing non-competitive hiring authority provision for military spouses available in their job announcements, according to Military.com.
The hiring authority allows military spouses to be appointed to certain jobs without having to go through the usual hiring process.
According to dosomething.org, military spouses tend to be under 35 and are mostly women with only five percent of military spouses being men.
Data also shows that military families relocate 10 times more often than civilian families, moving an average of every two to three years.
