After their return from the Homeland War, Croatian defenders had to fight again, but this time with the process of reintegration into society, which was further aggravated by the problem of unemployment within this population. This paper analyzes the position of Croatian veterans on the labor market and concludes that this population is much more active there today than the Croatian public thinks. On the other hand, there has always been a certain percentage of unemployed defenders, and each government has made some contribution in reducing this number. In order to gain a systematic insight into the rights, programs and measures aimed at solving this problem from the period of the Homeland War to the present day, a periodization has been made in the paper with regard to different governments and their moves. The policies were mainly based on the co-financing of employers who hire defenders, but also of defenders who wanted to upgrade their qualifications with a new education and thus keep up with the market, and those who opted for self-employment and entrepreneurship within which cooperatives developed which are still regarded today as a means of employment with great potential.