US Companies Support White House Initiative to Hire Veterans

More than 1.2 million veterans and spouses have been hired or trained since Joining Forces launched in 2011

On Thursday, 40 companies, including Amazon, Boeing, BAE Systems, AT&T and Tesla, pledged to hire more than 110,000 veterans and military spouses over the next five years in support of the Joining Forces initiative, the White House announced.

Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden launched Joining Forces in 2011. The nationwide initiative calls all Americans to rally around service members, veterans and their families by supporting them through education and employment opportunities.

At the time, the unemployment rate for veterans of the 9/11 generation was more than 12 percent, according to the White House Office of the First Lady.

Obama and Dr. Biden challenged the private sector in August 2011 to hire 100,000 veterans and military spouses. Since then, more than 1.2 million veterans and spouses have been hired or trained by the private sector and the unemployment rate among veterans is now lower than the national average, the White House said.

In addition to creating employment opportunities, 15 companies and organizations have committed to lead training programs, sponsor scholarships and support certification courses for nearly 60,000 veterans and their spouses.

In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal Thursday, Obama and Dr. Biden said the U.S. military has been "largely overlooked" by American companies looking to hire top technology talent.

"Whether they were establishing wireless networks in Baghdad, repairing communications equipment in the mountains of Afghanistan, or maintaining data-storage units on 100,000-ton aircraft carriers in the South China Sea, these military personnel have often done their jobs in conditions that most people can’t even begin to imagine," the op-ed said.

Obama and Biden noted these experiences demonstrate America's men and women in uniform "can handle whatever comes their way in an office building in Silicon Valley."

"Despite that remarkable achievement, there is plenty left to be done: 200,000 service members are returning to civilian life every year, and as far as we’re concerned, one unemployed veteran is one too many," Obama and Dr. Biden wrote.

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