GE Pledges to Hire 5,000 Veterans in Next 5 Years
NEW YORK (MainStreet) — General Electric (Stock Quote: GE) announced Monday that it will hire 5,000 U.S. veterans in the next five years as part of its new Hire Our Heroes program. The company will also work with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to add job training options for veterans at job fairs in 50 cities around the country.
The announcement is part of a four-day event in Washington, D.C. in which business leaders and politicians are discussing how to make the country and its labor force more competitive in the future.
General Electric isn’t the first company to pledge to hire more veterans in the coming years. Last year, the American Logistics Association, a trade group representing more than 200 companies including Tyson and Coca-Cola, pledged to employ 25,000 veterans by the end of 2013. President Obama has also pushed for offering tax credits to businesses that bring on veterans.
The unemployment rate for veterans has remained slightly below the national average since the recession, but it is still more than twice as high now compared to what it was before the economic downturn began in late 2007.
Seth Fiegerman is a staff reporter for MainStreet. You can reach him by e-mail at seth.fiegerman@thestreet.com, or follow him on Twitter @sfiegerman.
