20 Percent Unemployment Among Veterans Age 20 – 24

Daily Press (Virginia)

20 Percent Unemployment Among Veterans Age 20 – 24

JOBLESS VETS

Jim Nicholson, the new VA secretary, is urging employers across the country to hire veterans – particularly those with disabilities and returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Nicholson told a National Press Club audience in Washington about “troubling” figures on veteran unemployment from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the first quarter of 2005, nationwide unemployment among males ages 20 to 24 was 11 percent. The bureau reported that vets of the same age had a 20.4 percent unemployment rate.

In 2004, the services discharged 86,000 in that age range, Nicholson said. So the bureau’s data suggest that more than 17,000 can’t find work.

“They raised their hands. They volunteered, … and now about one of five is unemployed. We have to fix this,” Nicholson said.

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