Increasing Number Of Young Veterans Out Of Work

Jobless rate is 15.6 percent for vets under 25

The number of young veterans receiving unemployment checks increased again in 2005 even as the overall number of veterans without jobs decreased, according to new statistics from the Department of Labor.

Officials reported a 15.6 percent unemployment rate for 20- to 24-year-old veterans, up 2 percentage points from 2004. It’s also 4.6 percentage points above 2003 figures and four times the 3.9 percent unemployment rate of veterans of all ages last year.

Estimates are that the 15.6 percent unemployment rate translates into somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 young veterans.

Officials are expanding information on resume building and job interviews for younger veterans with an employment assistance site, www.hirevetsfirst.gov as well as considering a new initiative to give veterans advance notice of jobs with federal contractors, providing information on openings and contacts to veterans employment centers a day before the news is publicly posted.

The details of that plan are still being finalized.

Read the article here.

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