As the U.S. war in Afghanistan winds down, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce is launching an initiative to connect companies with veterans returning home to a weak job market.
Today’s kickoff of “Boots to Business” at the Boston Harbor Hotel aims to show companies the advantages of hiring veterans and introduce veterans to prospective employers and mentors.
“Hiring veterans is a win-win,” said Jim Klocke, the chamber’s executive vice president. “They can bring great skills to a company, and companies can help them re-enter the workforce after they’ve completed a tour of duty.”
For veterans who served after 9/11, the unemployment rate as of last month was 9.5 percent nationally, compared to the civilian rate of 8.1 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Massachusetts does not track unemployment among veterans. But of the 13,388 veterans who visited the state’s career centers last year, 8,183 were unemployed, statistics show.
“They come back to an economy that’s not as robust, and they’re competing for jobs that are much more competitive than maybe a decade ago,” said Coleman Nee, the state’s secretary of veterans’ services.
Brenda Heller was a first lieutenant when she left the Army in 2003 to become an assistant bank manager and, later, to raise a family. She holds a master’s degree, but has been out of the workforce for seven years and has not been able to find a job in the four months since she returned to her native Ashland.
“I really want to work with vets,” said Heller, 35. “The sacrifices they’ve made for our country is immeasurable. Working with them would be my way of saying thank you.”