Sunday, July 8, 2012

Post-9/11 Veteran Unemployment Rate Continues to Fall

Good news came out of the Department of Labor on Friday with the announcement that unemployment for Iraq and Afghanistan-era Veterans dropped over three full percentage points to 9.5 percent for the month of June.  This is tremendous improvement -- and a drop from 12.7 percent in the previous month -- but still more than a full percentage point over the national average unemployment rate of 8.2 percent for the same period.

But this is encouraging news that can perhaps be attributed to a bunch of good state and federal programs that are being implemented to help Veterans get both government and private-sector jobs. Many government grants have been announced to encourage hiring veterans. For example, the Transportation Department announced Monday that it is awarding grants to improve transportation access so that Veterans and their families could reach jobs.

And a  total of 1,300 job offers went to Veterans last week as the result of a Detroit job fair hosted jointly by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  There are plans to host similar events at other locations around the country. 

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