Joblessness Hits Male Vets of Current Wars

Source: Navy Times

WASHINGTON — Unemployment for male Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans has tripled since the recession began, rising from 5 percent in March 2007 to 15 percent last month, Labor Department statistics show.

More than 250,000 of these veterans were unemployed last month. Another 400,000 have left the workforce to attend college, raise children or because they have stopped trying to find a job, Labor Department economist Jim Walker said. The overall national unemployment rate is 9.7 percent.

“It makes you almost want to go out and rip off all the ‘Support Your Troops’ bumper stickers,” said Joe Davis, a spokesman for the 1.5 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars. “If you want to support your troops, give them a job.”
Reasons behind the joblessness:

• Veterans are having a difficult time translating military skills — initiative, leadership and coolness under pressure — into job-application language that civilian employers can grasp, said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. She has been meeting with unemployed veterans while on recess from Congress.

“These guys are disciplined. They’re great workers, and we should be getting them jobs,” said Murray, who is sponsoring legislation to improve resume training, expand the G.I. Bill to include apprenticeship programs and assist veterans starting small businesses.

• Employers are skittish about hiring National Guard and Reserve troops because these forces are so frequently deployed for up to a year or more, which requires employers to hold their jobs open, said Paul Rieckhoff, founder and executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

• Some employers don’t understand combat-related illnesses, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, how frequently they occur and how they are treatable, Murray said.

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