Reflecting on Veterans Unemployment

We have over 23.7
million veterans in our nation. Of these, nearly 6 million use Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare, over 3 million receive disability
compensation, and 800,000 utilize VA education benefits. Sadly, some 60,000 veterans are homeless and 900,000 are unemployed. Some find that using someone like these SC VA disability lawyers might be a good way to help them get compensation to help with any financial due to their inability to work.

On Friday,
the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Veteran unemployment data
for the month of October. The unemployment rate for all Veterans was 6.3 %,
below the national average of 7.9 %.  This is a turnaround from a year
ago.

While the
rates are headed in the right direction, there is more to do. Check out the
charts below:

Here is the
monthly unemployment rate for all Veterans since January 2010.  The trend
over nearly three years is clearly downward.

Iraq and
Afghanistan-era Veterans, (called Gulf
War II-era Veterans), are having a more difficult time: Their monthly
unemployment rate moved to 10 percent in October. However, the chart below
demonstrates the declining unemployment rate over time. 

While
the trend line is positive, the wind down of our Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts
causes a surge of men and women returning from overseas. They face a fiercely competitive job market, with about 3.4 unemployed
persons for each open position in the US.

Let’s work hard on just a few points:

  • Give
    any company who hires and
    retains for a period of one year, an unemployed veteran (or any long-term
    unemployed American for that matter), a tax credit equal to 50% of the 1st
    year salary plus FICA
  • Give free resume writing and interview
    training
    to these same two groups at our local community colleges
  • Get
    the F1000 to offer 50 one year internships each to unemployed veterans. Give the
    company the 100% of the salary plus FICA for each intern. This might be the best use of $1.25 billion when we start to
    prioritize government expenses at the edge of the fiscal cliff

We
know that veterans have much to offer an employer: leadership, organizational
skills, specific technical skills, and commitment.

In
joining our military, these men and women received promises that we would care
for their needs.

Corporate
America should stand up and be counted: A job should be among the benefits veterans
have earned on the frontiers of freedom and on the battlefield.

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