by Erin Delmore

When America’s military service members were faced with widespread unemployment five years ago, lawmakers like Sen. Tim Kaine sprang into action to get those who sacrificed for their country back to work. Now, the Virginia Democrat says the same unemployment crisis is plaguing military spouses, a group of women and men — but mostly women — whose professional futures are tied to their partners’ careers in the armed services.

Kaine tells Bustle that between 12 and 25 percent of military spouses are unemployed; that range is so broad because the government doesn’t actually measure the statistic in any formal way. “If you’re not measuring it, it’s because you don’t care enough about it,” he says.