A Department of Veterans Affairs study leaked to the Associated Press shows recently discharged veterans are having a harder time finding civilian jobs and are more likely to earn lower wages for years than those who never served in the military.

The AP reports the 2007 study by the consulting firm Abt Associates, found that 18 percent of the veterans who sought jobs within one to three years of discharge were unemployed, while one out of four who did find jobs earned less than $21,840 a year.

According to the AP, the delay is due partly to employer concerns about their mental health and overall skills. I guess it also has to do with the cumbersome and unwieldy VA bureaucracy which has veterans sleeping in their cars while they wait for the benefits they earned and a GI Bill so complicated some veterans student loans are sent to collection while they're deployed to Iraq.