Obama speaks about Joining Forces, tax credits for employers hiring veterans, DOL assistance

In her article “Obama Announces Veteran Workforce Initiatives,” Karen Parrish writing for the American Forces Press Service discussed President Obama’s announcement of a “series of administrative initiatives to help military veterans find jobs.”  President Obama primarily announced three key proposals.

The first proposal  is a set of tax credits for companies that hire veterans.  Secondly, Obama proposed a task force designed to create for veterans an easier path to transition from military to “civilian jobs or higher education.”  And finally, Obama issued a challenge to private industry to “hire more veterans.”  Obama spoke about the current situation where many veterans’ military skills do not match those needed for civilian jobs.

According to the article, “as of June, a million veterans were unemployed, and the jobless rate for post-9/11 vets was 13.3 percent.”  The Obama administration expects another one million veterans to return to the civilian workplace within the next five years.

President Obama spoke of military heroes with highly valuable skill sets that should transition well to civilian jobs saying, “if you can save a life in Afghanistan, you can save a life in an ambulance in Wyoming…if you can oversee millions of dollars in assets in Iraq, you can help a business balance its books here at home.”

To assist veterans get new jobs, the new task force that the Obama administration will create will “develop reforms, including a ‘reverse boot camp,’ to ensure service members receive the training, education, and credentials they need to transition to the civilian workplace or to pursue higher education.”

Further, President Obama discussed a Department of Labor initiative to develop “one-stop career centers” to act like a type of employment agency that matches veterans looking for work with companies looking to hire.

Additionally, to give companies incentive to hire veterans, President Obama announced the proposed “Returning Heroes” tax credit to companies hiring veterans and an increase in tax credits to those companies currently employing disabled veterans.  The former will be a $2,400 credit for short-term and $4,800 for long-term hire.  The latter or “Wounded Warriors” tax credit will be $9,600 for those firms hiring service-connected disabled veterans out of work for at least six months, while $4,800 for all other service-connected disabled veterans.

President Obama ended with his challenge that by 2013, “100,000 unemployed post-9/11 veterans or their spouses” be trained and/or hired.

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