Returning veterans deserve a job

The Gazette Editorial Board

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If we are going to ask Iowa men and women to leave everything behind to defend our country, the least we can do is help them find a decent job when they return.

Yet 16.4 percent of the 2,800 Iowa National Guardsmen who have returned home from Afghanistan in the last few months are unemployed.

That creates a financial strain that complicates troops' already-difficult task of reintegrating into civilian life.

Drawn-out, unsuccessful job searches don't just stress a veteran's finances - it adds strain on soldiers' marriages, their mental and physical health.

It's a shameful “welcome home” for men and women in uniform.

Nationally, the unemployment rate among veterans of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan is 11.5 percent -

2 percentage points higher than the overall unemployment rate. Of veterans aged 18 to 24, one in five is out of work.

President Barack Obama's proposal to offer tax credits to those who hire unemployed veterans doesn't seem like much of a solution to the problem of veteran unemployment. If anything, it's robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Simple tax incentives might encourage employers not to add jobs, but to swap out civilian employees in order to hire veterans and take advantage of the break.

And it doesn't get at the root cause of veteran unemployment, which is that veterans' skills too often don't match employers' needs.

Repeated deployments have left too many returning veterans with gaps in civilian work experience and outdated workplace skills.

So fighting veteran unemployment requires a more targeted attack: Enhanced job training and other veterans programs so that returning soldiers can upgrade their skills and be more competitive in our shifting economy. And, of course, those with deep emotional and physical injuries need help.

Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs Executive Director Jodi Tymeson told us departments like hers, Iowa Workforce Development and the U.S. Department of Labor are working to fight the problem on both fronts - by helping veterans and working with employers.

A special Workforce Development Veteran Employment Services department helps veterans retool their resumes and brush up on interviewing skills, for example, while the Department of Labor spearheads efforts to help employers understand re-employment laws.

Redoubling those efforts, and supporting special events like the “Hiring our Heroes” job fair planned for later this fall, will do more to fight the growing problem of veteran unemployment than an employer tax credit.

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