This resolution aims to close the gap for military spouses for National Guard and Reserve Components access to the Military Spouse Hiring Authority.

The US Military Spouse Unemployment rate constantly hovers higher than their non-military counterparts. According to the US Census and other agencies and reports to include Hiring Our Heros, and the annual study on military families, this number hovers around 22%. This is a huge tax on readiness, retention, and resilience of our military families. Currently, the below is the spousal hiring authority as written:

According to US OPM, Federal agencies can use the military spouse non-competitive hiring process to fill positions on either a temporary or permanent basis.
You’re eligible if you are:

A spouse of an active duty member of the armed forces.
A spouse of a service member who is 100% disabled due to a service-connected injury at the time of separation from military service.
A spouse of a service member killed while on active duty.
You are no longer eligible if you remarry.
You must meet certain criteria for each of these eligibility categories. Learn more about the specific criteria for military spouses.
Your eligibility does not entitle you to a job within the Federal Government. You must still apply and meet qualification standards and additional requirements, such as a background investigation.

In rural states such as Vermont, many Federal employment opportunities are missed for military spouses because they do not meet the definition for the Federal hiring authority as written, even though they support their spouse for Drill, AT, State activations, and local mobilizations for humanitarian relief. If expanded, there would be an immediate impact for this demographic in a positive way without detracting from the quality of currently eligible Active- Duty candidate pool. If a Guardsman can provide hurricane relief, stand to defend the capital during the Insurrection, and provide aid during COVID-19, their spouse should have an avenue to work for the Federal Government if they wish with the same preference as their Active-Duty counterparts.

Recommendation and COA for this is to expand the Military Spouse Hiring Authority to include National Guard and reserve component spouses, whose military member serves part-time and is not on active-duty. This expansion would not harm the current applicant pool as those proposed admissions are still technically spouses that support a member of the armed forces. If accepted the new requirement would introduce the ability for a National Guard and Reserves Spouse to submit an NGB-22 or a statement of current service from a commander to qualify and thus be eligible to apply for more opportunities, hopefully reducing the military spouse unemployment rate through an increase of Federal Employment opportunities. This resolution would also impact unit and DoD readiness in a positive way.