"Back home, veterans fight to find work; Unemployment at 30 percent for the younger ones" December 18, 2011|By Shaila Dewan, New York Times
How can that be in a nation that has (allegedly) been in recovery for over two years, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah?
COLUMBUS, Ohio - In Afghanistan, Corporal Clayton Rhoden earned about $2,500 a month jumping into helicopters to chase down improvised explosive devices or check out suspected bomb factories.
Now he lives with his parents, sells his blood plasma for $80 a week, and works what extra duty he can get for his Marine Corps Reserve unit.
Rhoden, who is 25, gawky, and polite with a passion for soldiering, is one of the legions of veterans who served in combat yet have a harder time finding work than others their age, a situation that officials say will grow worse as the United States completes its pullout of Iraq and as, by a White House estimate, a million new veterans join the workforce over the next five years.
Veterans’ joblessness is concentrated among the young and those still serving in the National Guard or Reserve. The unemployment rate for veterans ages 20 to 24 has averaged 30 percent this year, more than double that of others the same age, though the rate for older veterans closely matches that of civilians. Reservists like Rhoden have a bleak outlook as well. In July 2010, their unemployment rate was 21 percent, compared with 12 percent for other vets.
“There’s been an upsurge in young people going into the military and not staying for a full 20-year career,’’ said Jane Oates, the assistant secretary for employment and training at the Labor Department, which has worked to improve the three-day transition assistance program for outgoing soldiers and enlisted companies like Facebook to reach them. “I think transitions have been difficult, with too few jobs out there and lack of clarity about what the employer wants.’’
The employment gap cannot be explained by a simple factor like lack of a college degree - despite their discipline and training, young veterans fare worse in the job market than their peers without degrees.
Employers and veterans seem to view each other as alien species. Managers, few of whom have military experience themselves, may fear the aftereffects of combat or losing reservists to another deployment. They may have difficulty understanding how military accomplishments translate to the civilian world.
Young veterans, whose work history may consist entirely of military service, often need to learn basics like what to wear to a job interview. More important, many say, they are overwhelmed by the transition from combat to civilian life.
“It’s shellshock for a lot of them, going from such a structured lifestyle to a lifestyle that’s got so many variables,’’ said Daniel Hutchison, 29, who uses his own combat disability check to finance a shoestring transition assistance group. “They’re dealing with all the emotional things they went through, and they feel like they’re alone.’’
The Obama administration has championed veterans’ maturity, management skills and even their promptness. Employers have jumped on the bandwagon, and large companies like JPMorgan Chase and Verizon have signed a pledge to hire a total of 100,000 veterans by 2020. More than 220,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are out of work.
Almost makes you forgive JP for the MBS fraud and Verizon for the union-busting.
Over a decade of war, the requirement that companies restore reservists to their old jobs has placed a heavy burden on businesses, said Ted Daywalt, who runs VetJobs.com in Georgia. “They can’t run their business with someone being taken away for 12 months,’’ he said.
Though employers typically ask about military service and status on job applications, it is illegal to discriminate based on that information.
Young veterans face stiff competition for the jobs that fit them best, like policing. In Columbus, Dustin Szarell, 30, said he was passed over for work in the Akron Fire Department and as a juvenile corrections officer in favor of candidates who had experience in those fields.
The Obama administration has stepped up hiring of veterans, adding more than 85,000 to the government payroll since the 2008 fiscal year. In his weekly address yesterday, President Obama praised returning veterans and said “it is time to enlist our veterans and all our people in the work of rebuilding America.’’
Administration officials are trying to shape a “career-ready military’’ whose medics and electricians can more easily attain the licenses they need to work as civilians. As of October, the GI Bill that pays for college can also be used for vocational training or apprenticeships.
But many young vets are still working through the aftermath of combat. Some veterans said employers overestimated these problems. “They have this misconception that we’re all struggling from PTSD in its most severe form, we’re all going to rage out,’’ said Sergeant Kobby Nyen, 25, a Marine reservist and student. “Even a Marine with PTSD has discipline.’’
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Rhoden, who is 25, gawky, and polite with a passion for soldiering, is one of the legions of veterans who served in combat yet have a harder time finding work than others their age, a situation that officials say will grow worse as the United States completes its pullout of Iraq and as, by a White House estimate, a million new veterans join the workforce over the next five years.
Veterans’ joblessness is concentrated among the young and those still serving in the National Guard or Reserve. The unemployment rate for veterans ages 20 to 24 has averaged 30 percent this year, more than double that of others the same age, though the rate for older veterans closely matches that of civilians. Reservists like Rhoden have a bleak outlook as well. In July 2010, their unemployment rate was 21 percent, compared with 12 percent for other vets.
“There’s been an upsurge in young people going into the military and not staying for a full 20-year career,’’ said Jane Oates, the assistant secretary for employment and training at the Labor Department, which has worked to improve the three-day transition assistance program for outgoing soldiers and enlisted companies like Facebook to reach them. “I think transitions have been difficult, with too few jobs out there and lack of clarity about what the employer wants.’’
The employment gap cannot be explained by a simple factor like lack of a college degree - despite their discipline and training, young veterans fare worse in the job market than their peers without degrees.
Employers and veterans seem to view each other as alien species. Managers, few of whom have military experience themselves, may fear the aftereffects of combat or losing reservists to another deployment. They may have difficulty understanding how military accomplishments translate to the civilian world.
Young veterans, whose work history may consist entirely of military service, often need to learn basics like what to wear to a job interview. More important, many say, they are overwhelmed by the transition from combat to civilian life.
“It’s shellshock for a lot of them, going from such a structured lifestyle to a lifestyle that’s got so many variables,’’ said Daniel Hutchison, 29, who uses his own combat disability check to finance a shoestring transition assistance group. “They’re dealing with all the emotional things they went through, and they feel like they’re alone.’’
The Obama administration has championed veterans’ maturity, management skills and even their promptness. Employers have jumped on the bandwagon, and large companies like JPMorgan Chase and Verizon have signed a pledge to hire a total of 100,000 veterans by 2020. More than 220,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are out of work.
Almost makes you forgive JP for the MBS fraud and Verizon for the union-busting.
Over a decade of war, the requirement that companies restore reservists to their old jobs has placed a heavy burden on businesses, said Ted Daywalt, who runs VetJobs.com in Georgia. “They can’t run their business with someone being taken away for 12 months,’’ he said.
Though employers typically ask about military service and status on job applications, it is illegal to discriminate based on that information.
Young veterans face stiff competition for the jobs that fit them best, like policing. In Columbus, Dustin Szarell, 30, said he was passed over for work in the Akron Fire Department and as a juvenile corrections officer in favor of candidates who had experience in those fields.
The Obama administration has stepped up hiring of veterans, adding more than 85,000 to the government payroll since the 2008 fiscal year. In his weekly address yesterday, President Obama praised returning veterans and said “it is time to enlist our veterans and all our people in the work of rebuilding America.’’
Administration officials are trying to shape a “career-ready military’’ whose medics and electricians can more easily attain the licenses they need to work as civilians. As of October, the GI Bill that pays for college can also be used for vocational training or apprenticeships.
But many young vets are still working through the aftermath of combat. Some veterans said employers overestimated these problems. “They have this misconception that we’re all struggling from PTSD in its most severe form, we’re all going to rage out,’’ said Sergeant Kobby Nyen, 25, a Marine reservist and student. “Even a Marine with PTSD has discipline.’’
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