From reducing the deficit to addressing gun control, Congress undoubtedly has a long list of issues to tackle, but helping veterans find employment opportunities is close to the top. Lawmakers got to work quickly on the initiative with the Senate introducing a bill that would make it easier for veterans to find civil service jobs, encourage employers to hire servicemembers as first responders and extend the availability of small business loans, reports Military Times.
The bill’s sponsor is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, but it has many other supporters. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, for instance, said that the bill is an important step in helping reduce the unemployment rate among post-9/11 vets, which currently stands higher than the 7.8 percent facing the civilian population.
“At a time when one in 10 post-9/11-era veterans are unemployed, this bill honors the sacrifice of the men and women who served in our Armed Forces by providing them with training to find jobs or helping them get their own small businesses off the ground,” said Sanders, chairman of Senate Armed Forces Committee.
Among the most significant provisions in the bill is one that helps strengthen employment and reemployment rights for veterans. Specifically, it would help identify employers who are violating the important law.
Healthcare costs for the military have skyrocketed over the last decade with the United States embroiled in two wars, and recent figures from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reveals costs related to disability benefits have also seen a sharp increase. Since 2000, the amount the U.S. has paid to disabled vets has risen from about $14.8 billion to $39.4 billion, USA Today reports.
The reason for the sharp increase over the last 12 years has a lot to do with the repeat deployments, experts say. Starting in 2000, disabled veterans made up about 9 percent of the total population of former servicemembers, but by 2011 that figure had jumped to about 15 percent, a statistic indicative of the ongoing toll of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“I would point first and foremost to multiple deployments,” Allison Hickey, a retired Air Force brigadier general and the VA undersecretary for benefits, told the publication. “I would call it unprecedented demand.”
The significant number of injuries from Iraq and Afghanistan is certainly a large contributing factor. According to the Armed Forces Surveillance Center, between October 2001 and June 2012, more than 891,900 troops were hospitalized.
Thanks to ambitious bills and programs such as the Joining Forces initiative, the unemployment rate among veterans has started to come down. However, there is still a considerable amount of work to be done, and in an effort to help, retail giant Wal-Mart recently vowed to hire at least 100,000 veterans, reports The Associated Press.
The program officially kicks off on Memorial Day, and will be aimed at hiring servicemembers who have separated from active duty in the last 12 months. The focus on the most recent group of vets is fitting, especially since those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan have an unemployment rate higher than the general population. The latest jobs report found the jobless rate among post-9/11 vets stands at about 10.8 percent.
"Let's be clear – hiring a veteran can be one of the best decisions any of us can make," Bill Simon, president and CEO of Wal-Mart's U.S. business, said in prepared remarks, according to the AP. "Veterans have a record of performance under pressure. They're quick learners, and they're team players. These are leaders with discipline, training, and a passion for service."
Troops who have recently separated from service and are looking for a job may want to check out AFBA's Career Center, which connects employers and recruiters with talented prospective employees.