Recent Vets Struggle For Jobs

The US Senate’s Joint Economic Committee says veterans from the post 9/11 era are having a hard time finding and keeping jobs. Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania who chairs the committee released the report “Meeting the Needs of Veterans in Today’s Labor Force” yesterday.

The report found that the unemployment rate among Post-9/11 veterans in April was 10.9 percent, compared to the overall veteran-unemployment rate of 7.7 percent. The report goes on to note that nearly 2.5 million men and women have left active duty in the Armed Forces since September 2001

Of the Post-9/11 veterans who are employed more than two-thirds work in the private sector. However the report finds that federal programs aimed at helping vets transition into the civilian workforce must be improved.

Casey has introduced legislation that he said would modernize the Department of Labor’s Veteran’s Employment and Training Service program. Another bill aimed at boosting federal services to vets is also making its way through the upper chamber. Casey said he was pleased to be a co-sponsor for the “Hiring Heroes Act” introduced last month.