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Feds estimate 88 St. Lawrence County Iraq and Afghanistan vets are unemployed

Posted 7/13/11

An estimated 13.3 percent of recent veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are unemployed in New York State -- including 88 former service members in St. Lawrence County. More than 8,000 vets …

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Feds estimate 88 St. Lawrence County Iraq and Afghanistan vets are unemployed

Posted

An estimated 13.3 percent of recent veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are unemployed in New York State -- including 88 former service members in St. Lawrence County.

More than 8,000 vets are estimated to be in New York State and out of work.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, says those numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics are prompting her to make a new push for approval of the Hiring Heroes Act of 2011, legislation that would equip all returning U.S. troops with critical job-skills training and ensure more job opportunities for veterans.

Based on BLS data, Gillibrand’s staff estimates more than 8,000 recent veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are unemployed across New York State as of June 2011.

Using the BLS estimates, in St. Lawrence County, an estimated 88 of 660 discharged Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are without work.

The legislation Gillibrand supports seeks to help create new jobs for returning veterans through increased job training, personal employment assessments, and changes to federal hiring practices. The legislation would help all returning U.S. troops through the government’s Transition Assistance Program (TAP), which provides job-search techniques and resume and interviewing workshops.

To boost the number of jobs for returning service members, the bill would change federal hiring practices that allow soldiers to begin the federal employment process before they leave the military and encourage hiring of more service members. The bill would also create a competitive grant program for non-profits that provide mentorship and job training programs in an effort to boost job placements with private-sector companies.

According to the Department of Labor, more than 20 percent of young veterans nationwide between the ages of 18 and 24 were unemployed in 2010.