President Obama wants to use employer tax credits to help veterans, especially disabled veterans, get jobs in a tough economy.
His proposal, which will require congressional approval, would provide a tax credit to employers of up to $9,600 for hiring a veteran with a service-connected disability who has been unemployed for six months or longer and a $4,800 tax credit for hiring a veteran who has no disability but has been unemployed for at least six months, White House officials said.
The Labor Department also will expand services for veterans, including job coaching and other help preparing for jobs.
The new initiatives come at a time when more than 1 million Iraq and Afghanistan-era veterans are unemployed and the U.S. economy is creating few jobs.
While House officials said the unemployment rate for people who have left the military since 2001 is now 11.6 percent, a sign that current programs are insufficient.
“A lot of good work has been done,” said a White House official, “but we feel it is not enough.”
The White House is not working in isolation; two comprehensive veterans’ employment packages are pending in Congress that also aim to provide more help to job-hunting veterans, though there is a growing feeling that something more dramatic may be needed.
If no jobs are available for anyone — and that’s what is happening in a weak economy with businesses reluctant to hire — then programs to better help separating troops translate their military-learned skills and experience into a new job are not much help, said a representative from a major veterans group who ask not to be identified because he must work closely with the White House and Congress on veterans’ related legislation.
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