Study: Job market hard on recently discharged

[unhappycamper]

Study: Job market hard on recently discharged
By Hope Yen - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Feb 8, 2008 11:24:18 EST

Strained by war, recently discharged veterans are having a harder time finding civilian jobs and are more likely to earn lower wages for years due partly to employer concerns about their mental health and overall skills, a government study says.

The Department of Veterans Affairs report, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, points to continuing problems with the Bush administration’s efforts to help 4.4 million troops who have been discharged from active duty since 1990.

The 2007 study by the consulting firm Abt Associates Inc. found that 18 percent of the veterans who sought jobs within one to three years of discharge were unemployed, while one out of four who did find jobs earned less than $21,840 a year. Many had taken advantage of government programs such as the GI Bill to boost job prospects, but there was little evidence that education benefits yielded higher pay or better advancement.

The report blamed the poor prospects partly on inadequate job networks and lack of mentors after extended periods in war, and said employers often had misplaced stereotypes about veterans’ fitness for employment, such as concerns they did not possess adequate technological skills, or were too rigid, lacked education or were at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder.

It urged the federal government to consider working with a private-sector marketing firm to help promote and brand war veterans as capable employees, as well as re-examine education and training such as the GI Bill.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/ap_veteransjobs_080207/

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. decent bosses could be the problem...

2 years ago, the paper recycling plant I worked for hired a vet just back from Iraq. Good kid, more than capable of doing the work. However, the Plant manager was an asshole who thought he could order this kid around because he was a vietnam vet. Kid quit after 3 days, said if he wanted to be treated like that, he would have re-enlisted...