Employment numbers are rising as the economy slowly gains steam, which is a good thing.
But standing right outside the improving window of opportunity and looking in are those still struggling to find a job, such as many of our military veterans, especially young ones. The unemployment rate
last year for young Iraq and Afghanistan veterans was 20.9 percent, more than twice the national average, the Labor Department reported earlier this month.
Concerns that Guard and Reserve troops will be gone for long stretches and that veterans might have mental health issues or lack work skills appear to be factors keeping businesses from hiring veterans, the Associated Press reported.
That is distressing news for a country that likes to believe it supports its troops. Only former prisoners have a harder time finding work. With approximately five applicants for every job opening, employers can be picky. Long-unemployed people, and older workers, also find themselves unable to land a job.
Sen. Patty Murray is working with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., to introduce a bill called the Veterans Employment Act, which would help veterans with expanded job training and placement services, and would establish a program to help veterans start their own businesses, the Westbury (N.Y.) Times reported.
“It’s just heartbreaking,” Murray told McClatchy Newspapers. “They volunteer, serve our country honorably and come back and can’t find a job.”
For example, The Olympian reported, last year, members of the 81st Combat Team of the Washington National Guard were patrolling in such places as Mosul, Balad and Ramadi in Iraq. Now, after returning home in August, roughly 40 percent of the 2,400 Guardsmen from Washington are still looking for work.
Murray’s bill also would provide grants to states that establish Veterans Conservation Corps to employ veterans to restore natural habitat, maintain forests and parks and improve storm-water facilities, The Olympian reported.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said part of the solution is publicizing and using an under-utilized job portal for veterans at employerpartnership.org, which was launched on Veterans Day, the Post-Star of Glens Falls, N.Y., reported.
Schumer said the site is similar to Monster.com, with opportunity to reach out specifically to veterans. As of early March, about 1,400 employers had joined the site.
Schumer is sending letters to chambers of commerce and business groups in New York, encouraging them to make local businesses aware.
We encourage Snohomish County and all Washington businesses to sign up. As Murray said, “”I believe how we treat our veterans when they come home is an indication of the character of our nation.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: This editorial has been updated since its initial publication to correct the number of employers participating in the Employer Partnership of the Armed Forces.
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