Veteran in US – The 100,000 Jobs Mission on track by the end of 2014 to beat its own goal

One alliance to boost veteran employment is on track by the end of 2014 to beat its own goal – by five years – of hiring at least 200,000 U.S. military veterans, according to a report released Monday commissioned by RAND and JPMorgan Chase. Known as the 100,000 Jobs Mission, the coalition consists of 179 private sector companies that formed in 2011 with a mutual goal of advancing their veteran hiring practices.

Meg Harrell, the director of the Army Health Program at RAND and a co-author of the report, calls veteran unemployment in the U.S. an “unconscionable situation.”

“The military is downsizing, so now we’re going to have people that may have actually not opted to become veterans but that are going to become veterans,” Harrell says. “When people look at veteran unemployment, they tend to judge it against civilian unemployment, but veterans are a proven capability. In my mind, I never want veteran unemployment to be at civilian unemployment [levels].”

The unemployment rate for veterans overall is lower than that of nonveterans, however the level for post-9/11 veterans is slightly elevated, as Jason Furman, chairman of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, noted in a Nov. 7 post.

“While more must still be done to help these veterans find work, progress has been made. The unemployment rate for post-9/11 veterans has been cut by more than 4 percentage points from its peak,” Furman wrote.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Private Sector Tackles Veteran Unemployment – US News.