Guard unemployment spurs Vt. lawmaker to action

A Vermont lawmaker trying to get Congress to approve a new job training program for unemployed and under-employed veterans says he is worried about what happens when troops return from combat deployments to find their jobs have disappeared.

Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said he has been warned that up to 20 percent of Vermont National Guard troops now deployed to Afghanistan could be unemployed when they return. That’s one reason why he is pushing for help in teaching them new and marketable skills.

A 20 percent unemployment rate for returning veterans would stick out in a state that otherwise has a 7 percent unemployment rate, far below the 9.5 percent national average.

A Welch-sponsored bill, HR 929, approved Thursday by the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s economic opportunity panel, would create a new job-training program aimed at veterans who have been jobless for 180 days or longer and those who have been under-employed, earning wages that are 150 percent or less of the national minimum wage.

Those who qualify would get on-the-job training or take part in apprenticeships where they would learn a marketable skill.

In Vermont, that could be something like using computers to make precision machinery, Welch said.

“A lot of employers in a tough economy cannot afford the time to teach skills, but my experience is that employers really want to hire veterans,” Welch said.

The job training program, to be called the Military Transition Program, would be established as a 5-year pilot with $10 million in funding, enough to pay for about 500 people to receive training in new skill.

Similar legislation passed the House last year as part of a larger veterans’ benefits package but was never taken up by the Senate.

Under the current version, veterans would be paid while working for a company that has an apprenticeship or on-the-job training, with the federal government subsidizing the salary. The government would provide up to half of the wages, with the government’s share capped at $20,000 over two years.