First Lady Announces Pledge to Hire 100K Veterans and Military Spouses by 2014
EmailFirst lady Michelle Obama announced today that U.S. business has pledged to hire 100,000 veterans and military spouses by 2014, and she made a personal vow not to rest until all of the country’s 859,000 unemployed veterans have gainful employment.
“Now I have to say I am excited to be here because this is a big day. This is unprecedented,” Obama said in a keynote address to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce today. “America has your back. Today, America’s businesses have stepped forward with pledges to hire 100,000 veterans and military spouses by 2014. That’s right, 100,000.”
Today’s pledge supports the “Joining Forces” initiative that Obama and Jill Biden, the vice president’s wife, launched earlier this year.
“That’s 100,000 jobs, that’s 100,000 veterans and spouses who will have the security of a paycheck and a good career,” the first lady continued. “That’s thousands of families that can rest just a little bit easier every night.”
Obama said the hiring pledge, including 5,000 positions for wounded warriors, came from two organizations: the International Franchising Association and the Military Spouse Employment Partnership. Companies such as The UPS Store, Microsoft, Home Depot and Citi are examples of businesses participating in the pledge.
“Companies large and small have stepped up to hire, retain and train our veterans and military spouses,” Obama said. “Every week, someone new is getting involved. Every day, we’re gaining more and more momentum.”
She pointed out that the announcement today, part of the Chamber’s “Hiring Our Heroes” event, is intended to be complimentary to steps that her husband, President Barack Obama, is taking to aid unemployed veterans, including a measure that passed in the Senate this afternoon, but has yet to pass the House of Representatives.
“In the American Jobs Act, he proposed tax credits for businesses that hire unemployed veterans or wounded warriors. This proposal is in front of Congress right now. They’re voting this afternoon, and I want to urge Congress to act on behalf of our heroes,” she said. “Each of these steps is going to make a real difference, not just for a veteran, but also for your businesses, and more importantly, for this entire nation.”
The first lady said the pledge “isn’t about making headlines” but rather ”upholding our sacred duty to our veterans and their families.”
“This is about who we are as individuals and as a country. This is about making sure that every person who wears our uniform knows that their fellow citizens have their backs,” she said. “We all know that there are thousands more veterans and military spouses out there looking for jobs, folks who just need a little help to connect with a hiring fair, to find a career that suits their skills.”
About 859,000 veterans are unemployed, and the jobless rate for post-9/11 veterans is an estimated 12.1 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“That just doesn’t seem right, and hearing something like that, it drives me to want to do more,” Obama said. “I won’t stop, and all of the people joining me here today won’t stop. We will keep working until this wave of support reaches every single veteran and every single military family in this nation. That is my solemn promise as first lady.”
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“‘That’s 100,000 jobs, that’s 100,000 veterans and spouses who will have the security of a paycheck and a good career,’ the first lady continued.” Sorry to disagree, but a job (not career) and paycheck currently are not synonymous with security and actually haven’t been for at least a couple decades. That’s the difference between HIRING and RETENTION.
Posted by: Publius | November 10, 2011, 3:17 pm 3:17 pm
a job (not career) and paycheck currently are not synonymous with security and actually haven’t been for at least a couple decades.
POSTED BY: PUBLIUS | NOVEMBER 10, 2011, 3:17 PM 3:17 PM
That’s true in many cases. Still, a job and a paycheck are nothing to turn your nose up at, especially for a veteran attempting to adjust to life outside of a war zone.
Posted by: Cain | November 10, 2011, 3:32 pm 3:32 pm
it’s great that the First Lady is trying to win some support from those she doesn’t like. But she has to do something; Her Husband changed Rules of Engagement, which is killing more soldiers, by stoping them from killing the ememy when being fired upon from a building. I know becasue my Son was in a Ranger Unit, and he l left the military after 6 years, because Obama named this a coin war, and decided to pay the enemy to be nice to us, and free those they arrested for possessing arms. They of course are found within days doing the same thing and killing other soldiers.
Neither the President or his wife, have ever supported our military. But since they’ve lost black, jewish, and many conservative voters, and a lot of left wing loons who wanted him to do more, they have to try their best to get votes. They’ve gone to illegals, college kid loans, and now vets.
The only promising thing is, most understand they are loosing freedoms on a daily basis, and this power hunger group thinks they need to think, for all americans because we’re too stupid to care for ourselves.
Posted by: Sam Merenda | November 10, 2011, 3:37 pm 3:37 pm
She better start a business or something, US employers have all the workers they need except STEM Fields. If the veterans could do that they would not need assistance getting jobs, in the first place.
Posted by: snewsom2997 | November 10, 2011, 3:41 pm 3:41 pm
Thats fine Obama, but what about the 20% of the population with part time or no jobs that you have turned your back on the last 3 years?Obamcare as useless as it is and Potty Parity were more important, remember?
Posted by: specialty57 | November 10, 2011, 3:56 pm 3:56 pm
What about those who need jobs that are not involved with the military. For all those who are in the military already get a pay check from my taxes. So lets deal with those who live here in the states and have not worked for the past 2 years that can’t get hired. Let’s try that first.
Posted by: u.s. resident | November 10, 2011, 3:56 pm 3:56 pm
Neither the President or his wife, have ever supported our military.
POSTED BY: SAM MERENDA | NOVEMBER 10, 2011, 3:37 PM 3:37 PM
Bull crap. Review the record. There have been countless improvements for military and military families put in place under this administration.
Posted by: Don | November 10, 2011, 4:04 pm 4:04 pm
Thats fine Obama, but what about the 20% of the population with part time or no jobs that you have turned your back on the last 3 years?
POSTED BY: SPECIALTY57 | NOVEMBER 10, 2011, 3:56 PM 3:56 PM
More bullcrap. The first thing the Obama administration did was put in place ARRA which almost every accredited financial organisation credits with millions of jobs. There was also the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, unemployment benefits extended for millions hit by the Bush economic collapse, and the recent American Jobs Acts.
Posted by: Janis | November 10, 2011, 4:07 pm 4:07 pm
Translation.
Politicians first
Military second
Civilians/peons last.
Posted by: whatever | November 10, 2011, 4:18 pm 4:18 pm
If the unemployed waits for the staring cast of last night’s debate to come up with a jobs bill that doesn’t require spending,they will never go back to work. Go ahead vote for what you saw last night. PITIFUL
Posted by: minds12 | November 10, 2011, 4:21 pm 4:21 pm
Odd. She doesn’t like the country or flag very much and I never knew she cared about the military. It’s interesting how things have changed. In the late 1980s when I left the military nobody gave a damn about us. I guess we weren’t good political leverage back then.
Posted by: TexBork | November 10, 2011, 4:49 pm 4:49 pm
Janis, more BS. The stimulus was all but a failure just like cash for clunkers. All those jobs saved or created came to be in unknown zip codes except for ones on the tax payer bill already. The proof in that is all the unemployment extensions, and now he wants to put on another half trillion dollar band aid that will turn out just like the first trillion dollar band aid. In 6 months or so we can do it all again. Great plan.
Posted by: specialty57 | November 10, 2011, 5:15 pm 5:15 pm
“First Lady Announces Pledge to Hire 100K Veterans and Military Spouses by 2014″ – ABC News
Wow!
She must need a lot of yard work done and multitudes of assistants to oversee the work.
Posted by: Noz | November 10, 2011, 5:22 pm 5:22 pm
this radical left wing woman is just using the military to try to get her corrupt husband reelected…she has no shame……….. she can’t do anything to get veterans hired…. nothing but a lowlife liar
Posted by: LMAo | November 10, 2011, 5:35 pm 5:35 pm
POSTED BY: LMAO | NOVEMBER 10, 2011, 5:35 PM 5:35 PM
Too bad you can’t read.
“First lady Michelle Obama announced today that U.S. business has pledged to hire 100,000 veterans and military spouses by 2014 . . .”
Posted by: Fred | November 10, 2011, 7:15 pm 7:15 pm
All those jobs saved or created came to be in unknown zip codes
POSTED BY: SPECIALTY57 | NOVEMBER 10, 2011, 5:15 PM 5:15 PM
You’ve got to be pretty dense, very poorly read or just a flat out liar to type that kind of crap.
Posted by: Fred | November 10, 2011, 7:17 pm 7:17 pm
Texbork, if you think that the First Lady doesn’t care about the military you must have been living in a bubble since the Obamas moved into the White House. Michelle Obama and Jill Biden have been championing the military and their families.
Posted by: Lydia | November 10, 2011, 9:13 pm 9:13 pm
She made a personal vow not to rest…until the next European vacation…probably in January.
She has the same laser-like focus her husband has on providing jobs for everyone else…
How stupid is this bag?
Posted by: Stephen M Chudej | November 10, 2011, 10:37 pm 10:37 pm
This administration is clueless. They impose such strict reserve requirements on banks that they cannot loan to small business who want to expand and hire people. They halt drilling in the Gulf of Mexico thereby putting tens of thousands of people out of work. The drag their feet on permits for a pipe line from Canada to the states thereby denying jobs to 20,000 people. The Labor Relations Board is holding up the new Boeing plant in a right to work state in order to kiss up to unions thereby preventing over 2,000 new employees from going to work and earning a paycheck. They throw hundreds of billions of dollars at wind and solar companies and watch the industry move to China thereby causing thousands of Americans to lose their jobs. Obamacare will raise the cost of hiring new people by about $2000 by next year. Now these fools think there are going to pass a law and tax break to hire vets. They have to be purposely doing this. No one can be that ignorant about our economy and how jobs are formed. If it weren’t so destructive to our economy I would break out laughing at this whole story. Just wait and watch as you witness another failed government program at its birth and later in its death. Just plain stupid!
Posted by: curiousjack | November 10, 2011, 10:38 pm 10:38 pm
Curiousjack, I’d like to see some verifiable facts about what you stated.
I don’t think the banks reserve requirements are holding up loans to small business. I think it is the greed of the banks choosing to invest their money elsewhere for a bigger return. ( I notice that you don’t complain that the bank ceos got huge bonuses while they didn’t lend out money to small businesses. And you don’t seem to recognize that the whole banking meltdown which drove unemployment so high, was because of not enough regulation of the banking industry by the government.)
That pipeline running from Canada to the Gulf sounds like it could have a lot of negative consequences, so Congress and the White House should get more expert testimony.
You and I both know that new drilling was held up in the Gulf because the oil industry had a lot of safety procedures and parts quality issues to straighten out to prevent another huge oil spill in the Gulf. ( I notice that you don’t mention how that spill killed a lot of jobs all along the coast, from fishermen to hotel workers, etc. )
And it sounds like you don’t realize how jobs are formed. Increased demand for products and services is what increases jobs. No company leader in their right mind is going to increase production by hiring new workers unless they have increased sales.
So buy American and increase jobs!
Posted by: Lydia | November 10, 2011, 11:36 pm 11:36 pm
Thank you Michelle for such a great plan that reduces the unemployment rate among our vets from 12.1 to 10.7%. Geesh.
Posted by: john huston | November 11, 2011, 7:38 am 7:38 am
POSTED BY: DON | NOVEMBER 10, 2011, 4:04 PM 4:04 PM. Name ONE. The only time they care about the military is when they need their vote and then only those who vote for them. The votes from overseas don’t count.
Posted by: Lizzie | November 11, 2011, 10:04 am 10:04 am
Lizzie, you really don’t read the news much, do you? Fox news doesn’t count! :)
Posted by: Librarian53 | November 11, 2011, 10:04 pm 10:04 pm