The unemployment rate for veterans is now lower than the national average of roughly 5 percent, the White House announced, and more than 1.2 million veterans and spouses have been hired in the past five years.
Michelle Obama and Jill Biden touted the positive veteran employment news on the fifth anniversary of their Joining Forces initiative, an effort to better serve the needs of military families suffering from multiple deployments over the last 15 years.
When Obama and Biden launched Joining Forces in 2011, the unemployment rate for 9/11 generation veterans was more than 12 percent, and almost one in three young veterans who were looking for work couldn’t find it, the White House pointed out.
The improving employment situation is a bright spot on an otherwise still bleak landscape for veterans, especially efforts to fix the Veteran Affairs still-troubled health care system. In late March a veteran burned himself alive next to a VA clinic and Congress is still struggling to pass a bill that would allow agency officials to more easily fire inept or corrupt employees.
Obama and Biden also announced new private commitments to hire 110,000 veterans and military spouses and train 60,000 more in the fields of aerospace, telecommunications and tech over the next five years.
Among the commitments:
Amazon has pledged to hire 25,000 veterans and military spouses.
The Aerospace-Defense sector, represented by BAE Systems, the Boeing Company, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon, has pledged to hire a combined total of 30,000 veterans.
The telecommunications sector, represented by AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon, has pledged to hire a combined total of 25,000 veterans.
Accenture and USAA have each pledged to hire 5,000 veterans and military spouses.
President Obama and Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden plan to attend a combined celebration of the 5th anniversary of Joining Forces and the 75th anniversary of the USO at Joint Base Andrews Thursday night.
