Posts Tagged ‘veterans unemployment’

The number of military veterans going to college has taken off since 2009 when education benefits under the Post-9/11 GI Bill first became available. In 2012, 945,052 veterans used their GI Bill education benefits, up from 564,487 in 2009, according to the Veterans Affairs Department. Traditional colleges and universities have not been the biggest beneficiaries, though, as enrollment by veterans at for-profit private universities surpassed four-year public institutions in the 2009-2010 school year …

ADC has formed a strategic partnership with Walmart to support the effort by the nation’s largest retailer to provide jobs to military veterans entering the civilian workforce after serving their country. The partnership is intended to build on Walmart’s recent pledge to offer a job to any honorably discharged veteran in the year after he or she leaves active duty, a commitment the company projects will result in hiring and training more than 100,000 veterans over the next five years …

Since 2009, a group of more than 100 nonprofit organizations in San Diego has helped personnel separating from military service start their lives as civilians. The San Diego Veterans Coalition helps ensure that veterans can obtain needed health care, education, legal assistance and job counseling. About 15,000 service members leave the military each year in San Diego, reports NBC News …

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed two bills this week intended to make it easier for veterans to re-enter the civilian job market by granting them credit for experience gained in the military. One bill permits the state to waive the skill test requirement for obtaining a commercial driver’s license for veterans who have experience operating commercial vehicles in the military. The waiver would not apply to applicants seeking a license to drive a school bus or a commercial bus that transports more than 16 passengers …

U.S. employers have hired or trained 290,000 veterans and military spouses since the Joining Forces initiative was created two years ago, nearly tripling the program’s original goal, First Lady Michelle Obama said Tuesday. Businesses now are pledging to hire or train an additional 435,000 individuals over the next five years, Obama said. “We know that today is not the finish line …

A new public-private partnership will enable thousands of service members to earn industry-recognized information technology certifications before they transition from military service, First Lady Michelle Obama announced Monday at the White House Forum on Military Credentialing and Licensing. Obama said that too often, military personnel come home to find that the training and experience they’ve received doesn’t count toward civilian employment, “or they discover that the credits they’ve earned in military courses don’t transfer when they enroll in college, so they’re turned away from jobs that they’re more than qualified to do …

The Department of Veterans Affairs’ $63.5 billion fiscal 2014 budget request calls for a Veterans Job Corps to invest in veterans’ skills and experience, and place tens of thousands of veterans into civilian jobs. Features of the initiative include: $1 billion in mandatory funds to help unemployed veterans; a target of putting 20,000 veterans to work within the next five years in conservation, law enforcement and infrastructure jobs on public lands; developing back-to-work programs for veterans with other federal agencies, including the Interior and Agriculture departments, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Army Corps of Engineers; and supporting job-producing projects with contracts and grants with nonfederal organizations, such as states, nonprofit organizations and private businesses.

Veterans will be able to count their military experience and training toward requirements for occupational licenses, certificates and permits in New York City, under legislation Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed Tuesday. The new laws will allow veterans to apply qualifying military experience on a year-for-year basis, reported Army Installation Management Command. Examples of trades that require city licenses for which military experience can be applied include construction, retail, vendor, garage and parking, towing, sightseeing, pedicabs and newsstands. “We are grateful for all efforts to maximize job opportunities, including these laws so that veterans can more easily work in New York City in a trade they performed with the Army during a time of war,” said Col. Eluyn Gines, commander of Army Garrison Fort Hamilton, who attended the bill signing.

Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine said Tuesday he will introduce legislation to streamline the process for service members transitioning to civilian life to get professional credit for their military expertise. The 2013 Troop Talent Act, the first bill sponsored by the freshman Democrat, would improve the translation of military skill sets to civilian certifications or licenses by providing more information to service members throughout their military careers about the path to earning a civilian credential matching their military occupational specialty training …

A national program offering veterans multi-year apprenticeships in the construction industry has proven to be a good fit for transitioning service members. The Helmets to Hardhats program, run by a nonprofit, matches veterans with skilled training programs for the gamut of construction trades. At the training center for the Sheet Metal Workers Union Local 19 in Philadelphia, apprentices enter a four-and-a-half-year program with a starting pay of $17.86 per hour …