What’s
Wrong Today:
Hire a Vet? The overall unemployment rate among our 21 million veterans was 7.4% in November. That is lower than the national unemployment rate of 8.6%. Since 9/11, a wide array of government programs have been initiated to get veterans back to work:
- The Post-9/11 GI Bill, signed into law by George W. Bush in 2008 and against considerable opposition, including from Newt Gingrich 2.0. It helps veterans go back to school, paying for education and training for all veterans who served more than 90 days in the armed forces after September 11th 2001.
- President Obama created a Council on Veterans Employment in 2009, and the federal government hired over 70,000 veterans in both 2009 and 2010.
- On November 21st, Mr. Obama signed a bill offering tax credits to employers who hire unemployed or disabled veterans.
- Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, the vice-president’s wife and the stepmother of a soldier, recently launched a Hire Vets awareness campaign on behalf of veterans and military families.
- The Department of Labor offers an online employment service, as well as counseling for veterans at its 3,000 career centers.
So What’s Wrong?
The overall national numbers mask a terrible and growing problem: The unemployment rates for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan is 11.1%. For younger veterans between the ages of 18 and 24, it is 37.9%. So the Great American Depression Recession strikes much harder at these returning veterans. Since so many soldiers lack a college degree, the fact that this recession has been particularly hard on the less educated hits our returning veterans disproportionately, there needs to be more opportunity for veterans to get on their feet once they are back on American soil, this Denver staffing agencies jobs listing should be empty, and the vets should have jobs. Despite our government’s efforts, this trend is continuing even as the last American troops leave Iraq. All told, more than 1 million new veterans are expected to join the civilian labor force over the next four years. This alone will cause our national unemployment level to be persistently high throughout the next 4 years of the Obama administration, or that of his Republican opponent.
Source: http://www.economist.com/node/21541835
The top line numbers are also depressing: around 1.55 million US veterans are jobless, 1.4 million live below the poverty line, and one in every three homeless adult men in America is a veteran. This is a much bigger problem than many people think. Veterans deserve support after fighting for the country, so it’s important that these statistics begin to change. For many unemployed veterans, they can struggle to get back to everyday life which leaves them without a job. By not having an income, many veterans experience poverty quickly. This makes their lives even more difficult as they struggle to cope financially. If this happens, there are so many ways for veterans to get support. Perhaps these veterans could consider visiting https://www.gofundme.com/c/blog/financial-help-for-veterans. By doing that, more veterans can learn about the organizations that want to help them.
If demographics are destiny, these terrible numbers may not be surprising: More soldiers are male than female, and the US male jobless rate exceeds women’s. Also, joblessness
keeps unemployed veterans on VA health care as opposed to receiving it from a private insurance program offered through an employer, as many employed Americans do, which will keep our costs of veteran’s benefits higher than they might otherwise be.
The transition from military life to civilian is difficult. Soldiers often have trouble translating their military skills into marketable civilian ones. The simple act of writing a resume can scare a lot of returning soldiers, accustomed to being told where to go and what to do and now suddenly having to figure out, rather than being told, what prospective employers want.
Who
Cares?
In an
interview in The Economist, Major Jon Soltz, who spent the past year serving in Iraq advising the Iraqi army, went to the bank a couple of days after he returned home from active duty. He told the teller he no longer lived at the address on file, and had spent the last year in Iraq. “She asked me if I was there on vacation…People aren’t going to understand. People aren’t living it. It was a chosen war, and the country was never really engaged in it.”
Although more than 2 million soldiers served in Iraq and Afghanistan that adds up to less than 1% of all Americans. Many soldiers returned to find themselves among very few people in their towns or communities to have served.
We are quick to say, “Thank you for your service”. Returning veterans today are getting more honor and respect than they did during the Wrongologist’s service during the Vietnam era. While returning veterans seem to have our nation’s gratitude, gratitude alone has never paid a bill.
This is another emergent American failure:
We were quick to bail out the banks and AIG, etc. Now, it’s time to put some of our resources and attention to a better use. We need a national conversation about the enormity of what veterans face when they come back from war, separate from service and try to find a civilian job.
We
also need a plan.
Hopefully, the American public and our idiot politicians will act on behalf of veterans
when it comes to both the fiscal and political decisions that affect this group
of people to whom we owe so much.
To do
otherwise, would be WRONG!
