Obama Offers Major Initiatives To Hire Vets

by Yanira Farray

After receiving another disastrous report in June for post-9/11 Veterans, President Obama discussed his plans to ensure that all Veterans have the support they need and deserve when leaving the military.  The report in June showed the unemployement rate for these Veterans was now 13.3%.

The President’s Proposals are:

• Returning Heroes and Wounded Warrior Tax Credits: A new Returning Heroes Tax Credit for firms that hire unemployed veterans (maximum credit of $2,400 for every short-term unemployed hire and $4,800 for every long-term unemployed hire) and a Wounded Warriors Tax Credit that will increase the existing tax credit for firms that hire veterans with service-connected disabilities who have been unemployed long-term (maximum credit of $9,600 per veteran) and continue the existing credit for all other veterans with a service-connected disability (maximum credit of $4,800).

• A Challenge to the Private Sector to Hire or Train 100,000 Unemployed Veterans or Their Spouses by the End of 2013: The President will challenge businesses to commit to hire or provide training to unemployed veterans and military spouses. Microsoft, Lockheed Martin, Accenture, JP Morgan, AT&T and many other companies and non-profits have already risen to the challenge and announced new commitments to training or employing veterans. Joining Forces will lead this work with businesses and industry.

• Presidential Call for a Career-Ready Military: The Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, working closely with other agencies and the President’s economic and domestic policy teams, will lead a new task force to develop reforms to ensure that every member of the service receives the training, education, and credentials they need to transition to the civilian workforce or to pursue higher education. These reforms will include the design of a “Reverse Boot Camp,” which will extend the transition period to give servicemembers more counseling and guidance and leave them career-ready.

• Transition to the Private Sector: The Department of Labor will establish a new initiative to deliver an enhanced career development and job search service package to transitioning veterans at their local One-Stop Career Centers. The Office of Personnel Management will create a “Best Practices” Manual for the private sector to help businesses identify and hire veterans.

Returning Heroes and Wounded Warrior Tax Credits

Under the Recovery Act, employers who hired certain unemployed veterans were eligible for a tax credit of up to 40 percent of the first $6,000 of wages, for a maximum credit of $2,400. This credit expired at the end of 2010

President Obama has ordered the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs to form a new task force that is charged with implementing new programs that ensure service members have the skills and training needed to transition into private sector jobs.

The president also directly challenged private sector businesses to hire or train 100,000 unemployed veterans or their spouses during the next two years.

One of the ideas is “reverse boot camp,” where service members receive counseling services, information about post-separation benefits, and credentialing opportunities.

The task force will also work to identify agency programs that are duplicative or not achieving their intended outcomes.

We currently have over 11,000 active jobs posted at our sister site Hire Veterans. If you are a US Veteran that is currently unemployed, then we invite you to post your resume on our site and browse jobs at no cost.  If you are a company that is looking to help with this crisis by hiring more veterans, then please contact John Vogel at john@hireveterans.com.