need your help for my next editorial-re:unemployed veterans-

[w8liftinglady]

I need solid,non-partisan resources for outsourcing overseas,cutting infrastructure and quotes by R's on Laissez Faire capitalism.Thanks in advance for any resources

[Love Bug]

1. I don't have any solid resources to help you, but I can tell you this:

I'm a 56 year old Navy veteran who's been unemployed for two years. For a long time I resisted going to jobs groups for veterans because I thought they would be more for the young guys who just got out. I finally attended a few and boy, was I surprised to see that is not the case at all. EVERYONE was probably at least 45, which tells me this recession has hit the older vets much, much harder than the young ones.

One of the jobs groups I attended was sponsored by my local VA hospital, so that might be a resource you can use for getting reliable stastical information on those they serve.

Hope this helps.

[w8liftinglady]

2. thank you.When I researched HireAVet-most were part-time service jobs

All the technical education these vets have has been discarded.Several of my Gulf War 1 patients shared your issues.

[w8liftinglady]

3. 21% unemployment rate for young vets

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/87466772.html

The unemployment rate last year for young Iraq and Afghanistan veterans hit 21.1 percent, the Labor Department said Friday, reflecting a tough obstacle combat veterans face as they make the transition home from war.

The number was well above the 16.6 percent jobless rate for non-veterans of the same ages, 18 to 24.

[haele]

4. Well, some government jobs grant extra points for veteran service when they apply -

Back in the 80's and 90's, many low skill veterans who joined to leave areas with little job opportunity used those points to get into the Post Office, police and fire departments, or other civil service jobs when they completed their four or six years.
Something to consider -
Even though there are a lot of educational opportunities for people in the military, most do not take advantage when they are in their first enlistment because they are basically right out of high school and using the military to "find themselves". There is also a large percentage of enlistees who don't make it past their first enlistment, getting out as soon as they can because they think they'll have more time to do what they want - work the job they want to work, and do whatever they think they want to do with all the free time they think they're going to have. (BTW, even with duty days, I had more "free time" that I could count on and plan for while I was in than when I was out...)

But those points do not guarentee a vet gets hired, and as government/civil service jobs are under fire, there's not a lot of hiring going on unless it's either part-time or a specific type of job experiance requirement and the vet has sufficient education to qualify for that job.

On the outside, it's a different story all together. Unless an employer is inclined to be somewhat altruistic in the community, or if there is a tax break for hiring vets, disabled, unemployed, single parents, etc, it's much harder for a veteran to find work, even if he or she joins a union, etc.
In my personal experiance (YMMV), many civilian employers/companies who do not work directly with the DoD (or have policing positions) do not like to hire vets because they either belive the education a vet gets in the military is not equivilent to a college education or they belive a vet will automatically use an authoritarian style of management, has PTSD or some other emotional/mental disability, or if retired, is only working as a hobby while they collect a military pension.

Now, my retired father volunteers for the DoD's Employer support for Guard and Reserve organization, and much of his work is to get employers together with both the returning National Guard and Reservists as well as to help match veterans and employers that are inclined to hire vets. There may be some information that is useful through this organization -

http://www.esgr.org/site/

Haele

[w8liftinglady]

5. I see a lot of "flag waving" in my community-very little support

for example

http://lubbockonline.com/local-news/2010-12-05/high-unemployment-rate-reduced-state-resources-tough-veterans

The troubling news, however, comes for recently returning veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, who have a considerably higher unemployment rate — 10 percent as of November, said Lisa Waddell, a spokeswoman for the veterans commission in Austin.

The number of unemployed Iraq and Afghanistan veterans increased by about 27,000 in one year, from 162,000 in November 2009 to 189,000 in November 2010.

She attributed the higher unemployment rate for recently returning veterans to their arriving on the job market during a period of recession and all-around high unemployment.

Other recent veterans are finding difficulty working due to the physical and mental tolls of serving in war zones, Waddell said.

Advances in battlefield medicine are keeping soldiers alive even after receiving debilitating injuries from such threats as roadside bombs.

“They’re surviving, but they’re surviving with more serious injuries,” Waddell said.

Others who experience severe physical and mental trauma are left with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, though this disease can sometimes go unnoticed for years but still have the ability to affect a veteran’s ability to function in a job.

Even veterans who have a job, like others in the community, often experience underemployment — working in a job that doesn’t pay the bills, Walmsley said.

“The problem is there’s just so many people vying for minimum-wage jobs,” she said. “But honestly, right now, they need to take whatever they can get until they can get better.”

Wavering support

Walmsley’s agency alone is facing cuts of at least 5 percent a year over the next two years as the state of Texas faces a nearly $18 billion, two-year projected budget deficit in the 2011 Legislature, Waddell said.

Those cuts — amounting to more than $700,000 per year — have forced the commission to eliminate 21 jobs across the state, she said.

Most of those put out of work were caseworkers who help connect veterans with state and federal resources, such as the $3 billion the federal Veterans Administration annually awards to Texas veterans.

That money is divvied out between veterans pensions — up to $15,000 for those below the poverty level — as well as other needs such as medical claims for disabled or wounded veterans.

With the loss of those commission jobs, Waddell argued, the state’s veterans, and therefore the state, could lose a portion of that federal money.

[haele]

6. Waving flags is cheap, and means nothing.

Just like putting a jesus fish on one's car. Lots of feel-good posturing, but no action.

Job cuts as "belt tightening" has repercussions far past the loss of the civil service jobs; it's a downward spiral to everyone who needed those services that are being cut - especially to those who can't take care of themselves - the disabled, elderly, family services, and aid to the under/un-employed.
As for under-employment, that's a problem that's widespread across all categories of employees. Veterans stick out more than the average high-school or college grad struggling to find meaningful work, which is why they've become an issue.

We're going back to the days of the workhouses and poorhouses, and the sick, destitute, and dead littering the streets - hurting 98% of people who really need help because self-styled "hard-working conservatives" can't stomach the 2% of recipients that might scam a system set up to alleviate poverty.

But they can sure stomach - and even envy and respect - those in the top 2% of the US population scamming the taxpayers in a system set up to garner great wealth...

Haele

[w8liftinglady]

7. I need some GOOD outsourcing/overseas facts

especialy corporations that have shipped manufacturing completely overseas