Veterans groups push for better employment opportunities for returning soldiers

From Harvey Lipman, columnist at The Record in NJ:

Veterans groups have been pounding the doors of Congress — literally and figuratively — for the past year demanding action to reduce the high unemployment rates among the soldiers back from deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"One of our major focuses this year has been veteran employment," said Tim Embree, legislative associate with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). "We've been running around the halls of Congress looking for anyone who would listen."

It looks like they're finding an audience.

Legislation introduced in both the Senate and House on Tuesday would make it easier for businesses to claim a federal tax credit for hiring recent vets.

The bill is being co-sponsored in the Senate by Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Iowa Republican Charles Grassley, the committee's ranking minority member. Minnesota Democratic Representative Tim Walz introduced it in the House.

Businesses can already claim a Work Opportunity Tax Credit of up to $4,800 for every disabled veteran they hire and $2,400 for other veterans within five years of their discharge from active duty with one of the regular branches of the military. But many don't, simply because they don't know about it.

"A lot of employers, especially small businesses, just don't have the time to educate themselves about this," Embree said. "And a lot of veterans don't understand what they qualify for."

To address that problem, one key element of the legislation requires the military to brief service members about the credit upon their discharge and provide them with written instructions about how to apply for it — to give to potential employers. The government would also work with IAVA, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and other groups to create documents about the tax credit that veterans can download from their websites and include in their resumes.

The idea is to have the veterans themselves help market the credit

to business owners.

"This credit is dramatically underutilized because it comes as a surprise to the vets' employers," said Eric Hilleman, legislative director for the VFW. "The VFW is committed to help spread the word."

Two other key changes in the bill would expand the number of veterans who would be covered by the credit. For the first time, reservists and National Guard members who have been on active duty for at least 180 days would also be included.

Secondly, the legislation would simplify the certification process for businesses and veterans to prove their eligibility. Currently, the veteran being hired must have applied for unemployment benefits within four weeks before being hired and must go through a complicated certification process to prove that. The Baucus-Walz bill would eliminate that requirement.

"You would no longer have to have applied for unemployment," Embree explained. "Say I get out of the Marine Corps and for the first four months I don't know what I want to do and I burn through my savings. Then I realize I've got to get a job. I was unemployed, but I never applied for unemployment."

That would change so that the only paperwork veterans would need to give new employers is a discharge document issued by the Defense Department or National Guard showing they'd served 180 days on active duty in the past five years.

What's driving the veterans groups' efforts is the stubbornly high unemployment rate among veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars: 13.1 percent in April, compared with 9.5 percent for the nation as a whole.

As The Record reported in March, New Jersey's Army National Guard members have been particularly hard hit. An internal survey by one battalion found 18 percent of its members were jobless.

Embree said the unemployment figures for Guard members nationally have skyrocketed to 10.6 percent, quadrupling since 2007. That's especially disturbing given the fact that many of them had civilian jobs before they were deployed.

"No veteran returning home from the service and looking for work should be greeted with an unemployment check instead of a job," Baucus said in a statement announcing the legislation.

Veterans groups have been pounding the doors of Congress — literally and figuratively — for the past year demanding action to reduce the high unemployment rates among the soldiers back from deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"One of our major focuses this year has been veteran employment," said Tim Embree, legislative associate with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). "We've been running around the halls of Congress looking for anyone who would listen."

It looks like they're finding an audience.

Legislation introduced in both the Senate and House on Tuesday would make it easier for businesses to claim a federal tax credit for hiring recent vets.

The bill is being co-sponsored in the Senate by Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Iowa Republican Charles Grassley, the committee's ranking minority member. Minnesota Democratic Representative Tim Walz introduced it in the House.

Businesses can already claim a Work Opportunity Tax Credit of up to $4,800 for every disabled veteran they hire and $2,400 for other veterans within five years of their discharge from active duty with one of the regular branches of the military. But many don't, simply because they don't know about it.

"A lot of employers, especially small businesses, just don't have the time to educate themselves about this," Embree said. "And a lot of veterans don't understand what they qualify for."

To address that problem, one key element of the legislation requires the military to brief service members about the credit upon their discharge and provide them with written instructions about how to apply for it — to give to potential employers. The government would also work with IAVA, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and other groups to create documents about the tax credit that veterans can download from their websites and include in their resumes.

The idea is to have the veterans themselves help market the credit to business owners.

"This credit is dramatically underutilized because it comes as a surprise to the vets' employers," said Eric Hilleman, legislative director for the VFW. "The VFW is committed to help spread the word."

Two other key changes in the bill would expand the number of veterans who would be covered by the credit. For the first time, reservists and National Guard members who have been on active duty for at least 180 days would also be included.

Secondly, the legislation would simplify the certification process for businesses and veterans to prove their eligibility. Currently, the veteran being hired must have applied for unemployment benefits within four weeks before being hired and must go through a complicated certification process to prove that. The Baucus-Walz bill would eliminate that requirement.

"You would no longer have to have applied for unemployment," Embree explained. "Say I get out of the Marine Corps and for the first four months I don't know what I want to do and I burn through my savings. Then I realize I've got to get a job. I was unemployed, but I never applied for unemployment."

That would change so that the only paperwork veterans would need to give new employers is a discharge document issued by the Defense Department or National Guard showing they'd served 180 days on active duty in the past five years.

What's driving the veterans groups' efforts is the stubbornly high unemployment rate among veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars: 13.1 percent in April, compared with 9.5 percent for the nation as a whole.

As The Record reported in March, New Jersey's Army National Guard members have been particularly hard hit. An internal survey by one battalion found 18 percent of its members were jobless.

Embree said the unemployment figures for Guard members nationally have skyrocketed to 10.6 percent, quadrupling since 2007. That's especially disturbing given the fact that many of them had civilian jobs before they were deployed.

"No veteran returning home from the service and looking for work should be greeted with an unemployment check instead of a job," Baucus said in a statement announcing the legislation.