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REPUBLICAN PRESS RELEASE

Friday January 12, 2007

Ranking Member Buyer statement on lower veteran unemployment

Washington, D.C. — With news that veterans’ unemployment rates in 2006 dropped by about a third from 2005, Steve Buyer (R-Ind.), House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs ranking member, expressed his pleasure and also his continuing concerns regarding veterans’ employment.

“I am pleased that our work over the past two years with the Veterans Employment and Training Service is showing results,” Buyer said of the just-released Bureau of Labor Statistics report that veterans’ unemployment fell in 2006 to 10.4 percent from a high of 16 percent in 2005. “I compliment the leadership of the secretaries of labor and veterans affairs, and those in the private sector who understand the value-add of hiring veterans,” Buyer said.

“The decrease to around 10 percent in unemployment rates for young veterans is a significant improvement from last year. With their wealth of experience and knowledge, veterans bring tremendous value to the workplace, and the nation itself is better off from their increased presence. However, 10 percent is not good enough; regardless of age, every veteran who wants to work should have the opportunity to earn a good living,” Buyer said.

Buyer also noted that the Department of Labor, which manages the Veterans Employment and Training Service, must do a better job of understanding the reasons for the continued high rate of unemployment relative to other sectors of the American workforce.

“I urge the departments of labor and veterans affairs to accelerate their research on this issue so that Congress can provide whatever remedies are needed to put more veterans to work,” Buyer said.

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Larry Scott

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