Hawai'i military spouses at Schofield Barracks (Army), Hickam (Air Force), Pearl Harbor (Navy) and Kane'ohe Bay (Marine Corps) are eligible.

The program announced Wednesday by the departments of defense and labor gives a spouse $3,000 each year for two years to pay for an education, books, licensing fees and other costs for what the departments have identified as "portable career fields" such as education, healthcare and financial services.

Military spouses have an unemployment rate that is three times higher than counterparts in civilian families, the Pentagon says. Though some 77 percent say they need or want to work, frequent moves required by the military often make it hard or too expensive to establish long-term careers or meet state credentialing requirements, the department says.