GE pledges to hire 5,000 vets over five years

2/13/2012

In an effort to help veterans get back to work, General Electric recently announced plans to hire 5,000 servicemembers over the next five years. The program is aimed at lowering the disproportionate unemployment rate among vets while also jump-starting GE's $580 million investment in aviation, The Associated Press reports.

The initiative will be nothing new for GE. The company already employs around 10,000 veterans, and in addition to its plans to hire 5,000 more, will host around 400 veterans job fairs across the country this year.

The program comes several months after Congress passed the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011. The legislation contains a number of provisions aimed at helping veterans find work including an education and training program to provide them with skills that employers value most. Additionally, it has a tax credit for companies who hire people who have served in the military.

According to the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, there are currently about 900,000 unemployed vets in the United States, and the jobless rate stands at 12.1 percent for those who served in Iraq or Afghanistan.