Obama encourages federal hiring of veterans

[unhappycamper]

Obama encourages federal hiring of veterans
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press Writer
Nov 9, 9:02 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House launched an effort Monday that it says will turn the government into a model employer of military veterans and possibly provide encouragement for private employers to do the same.

President Barack Obama signed an executive order creating the Council on Veterans Employment, part of an initiative to encourage federal agencies to recruit and train military veterans. The effort also aims to bring more veterans into the federal work force and help newly hired veterans adjust to working in a civilian environment.

The federal government will need to hire tens of thousands of workers in the coming years, in part because of the number of retirements expected among baby boomer federal workers.

There were approximately 480,000 veterans working for the government as of Sept. 30, 2008, the White House said, or about one-fourth of the 1.9 million-member work force.

Obama said veterans sacrifice and serve defending the country and that government and private employers should help them find jobs.


Rest of article at: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA_VETERANS?SITE=DCSAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-11-09-21-02-53