Today, we link a level prestige to the veterans among us. They are the bold and heroic men and women who fight to protect our country. What we often times don’t consider- is the way veterans, like all other American citizens, are personally affected by the struggling economy. So, how is the economy impacting their reintegration into the workplace after coming back from enough challenges faced overseas? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “the unemployment rate of those who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces since September 2001 was 7.3 percent.” That is a large number of the 22.4 million veterans reported for 2008. In addition, the problem has grown since prior wars, such as Vietnam. The BLS states in earlier reports that the unemployment rate of Vietnam veterans was about 6.0 percent.
The government has taken action in securing jobs for veterans by enforcing the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994. USERRA is a federal law intended to ensure that persons who serve or have served in the Armed Forces, Reserves, National Guard or other "uniformed services:"
(1) are not disadvantaged in their civilian careers because of their service;
(2) are promptly reemployed in their civilian jobs upon their return from duty; and
(3) are not discriminated against in employment based on past, present, or future military service.
Both the U.S. Department of Labor and another DoD (Department of Defense) organization with representation in each state, called ESGR – Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve – work with both service members and employers to resolve issues/conflicts governed under USERRA.
However, even though the government takes such action, veterans are still insecure about job opportunities. Matthew Hicks, a marine from New Hampshire, enlisted in the U.S. Marines back in 2004 following his high school graduation. Now, 5 years later Matt is still active. “I’ve been to Iraq 3 different times now, and reenlisted twice for 3 year contracts.” Matt explains his reasoning to be similar to many others like him; “I came out of high school, I don’t have a job to return back to and it’s difficult to compete with college grads for decent jobs. Also, with the economy the way it is currently, there’s hardly any opportunity for anyone to get hired. Since, I am not returning as a full time student, I haven’t had any alternatives or better options than to reenlist.”
This problem is also considerably obtained from to the job types veterans are looking for.
John Wiltse, Deputy Commissioner of Connecticut’s Dept. of Veteran Affairs gives some explanation to the higher rates in veterans’ unemployment.
“We would credit some of this to the fact that veterans often are ahead of their peers in the areas of job experience and overall maturity. In the military, they often have much more responsibility in terms of the number of subordinates they supervise and types of jobs they perform than their civilian peers of a similar age. Upon their return from combat, some veterans often look for more substantial jobs and employment to try to replicate the responsibilities they had while in uniform.”
Many marines find this to be the case, however have a lot frustration with job qualifications. Michael Sansivero, a 23-year-old veteran is now a full time student after returning from Iraq in 2005. Although unemployment didn’t apply to him, he still is upset by the many who are affected.
“I know a lot of people that have reenlisted because it is easier than finding another job and being able to support their life styles. College graduates are getting jobs that pay better than most high school graduate veterans, which a lot of times makes little sense because most college graduates have no life experience whatsoever. A potential way to fix this would be to increase the GI Bill, especially for that of veterans with dependents. Schools should also eliminate unnecessary courses for veterans, to possibly cut down the time for a degree to 2 years. All private schools should honor the Yellow Ribbon GI Bill.”
John Wiltse assures that the issue is being addressed in several ways by various organizations and agencies. “Again, the need and desire for veterans to find ‘substantial’ jobs is important to them. First, the military services themselves are doing more and more to provide civilian job placement assistance and counseling to U.S. service members who have decided to leave active duty even before their enlistment is up. DoD (Department of Defense) actually has a fairly extensive formal program to help with the transition from military to civilian life, called TAP – Transitional Assistance Program – that provides counseling, educational classes and job referrals to service members who will be leaving.”
(You can learn more about the TAP program at http://www.transitionassistanceprogram.com/register.tpp)
He continues to say, “Additionally, all states have a Veteran Workforce Development division as part of their DOL – and the Federal DOL has a similar division – with trained, full-time counselors and offices whose focus is matching veterans with jobs and training opportunities. Many states – including CT – also sponsor job fairs dedicated to matching veterans with employers/businesses who are specifically interested in hiring veterans. We have found these veterans job fairs to be quite successful here in CT.”
While many problems with unemployment for veterans are often due to the economy, further issues arise for injured veterans who are unable to perform labor work.
According to the Connecticut’s Department of Veteran affairs, injured vets often do need assistance with re-training to find new employment/careers that they can be successful in. John Wiltse informs that, “the primary program that we help enroll such veterans in is the Federal VA’s Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Voc-Rehab) Program. This program is available primarily to veterans with receive a 20% service-connected disability and have an employment handicap. The VA’s Voc-Rehab Program pays for the large majority of re-training and educational costs selected by the veteran – from technical programs to four-year degrees to graduate degree work – while also providing the veteran a dedicated vocational counselor, evaluation of interests/aptitudes, on-the-job training, and supportive rehabilitative services and counseling. In addition to covering the costs of the desired training/educational program, the veteran also receives a monthly stipend while in the Voc-Rehab program to help cover living expenses (thisis in addition to the monthly benefits payment that all disabled vets receive for the rest of their lives).”
For more information about the VA’s Voc-Rehab Program, please visit http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/vre/index.htm
Mike Sansivero recounts, “I have found there are a lot of resources within the VA, but it is up to the veteran to use them. The people at the VA seem to very helpful and wanting to facilitate the veteran. They would provide a lot of assistance to disabled veterans in finding a job.”
The economy and lack of job availability is affecting all, but some more than others. Veteran employment rates are constantly trying to improve with the help of VA offices, private organizations, and our federal government. President Obama and V.P. Joe Biden are working to improve relevant issues in “quality of health care for veterans, rebuild the VA's broken benefits system, and combat homelessness among veterans. They will:
Ensure a Seamless Transition: Demand that the military and the VA coordinate to provide a seamless transition from active duty to civilian life.
Fully Fund VA Medical Care: Fully fund the VA so it has all the resources it needs to serve the veterans who need it, when they need it. Establish a world-class VA Planning Division to avoid future budget shortfalls.
Fix the Benefits Bureaucracy: Hire additional claims workers, and improve training and accountability so that VA benefit decisions are rated fairly and consistently. Transform the paper benefit claims process to an electronic one to reduce errors and improve timeliness.”
Veterans, government officials, and more are hopeful that the future will provide better employment options upon enlistment completion. And ultimately grant U.S. veterans with an improved and opportune life, as deserved.
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