States assisting veterans

There are approximately 700,000 unemployed veterans, and the U.S. Department of Labor (Labor) expects that number to increase as service members leave active duty. In 2002 Congress passed the Jobs for Veterans Act (JVA) (PL 107-288, pdf, 76KB, 16p., from GPO) to improve employment and training for veterans and encourage employers to hire them. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) was mandated to review the implementation of JVA and released its report Dec. 30.

JVA amended two Labor programs that are exclusive to veterans and administered by the Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS): the Disabled Veterans' Outreach Program (DVOP) and the Local Veterans' Employment Representative program (LVER). (For its review, GAO surveyed state VETS directors and state workforce administrators.) JVA not only changed the way services are provided through DVOP and LVER but gave states more flexibility to tailor services to their area veterans; that greater flexibility, however, calls for greater accountability. GAO recommends that Labor improve its oversight and monitoring functions, assist with integrating staff into one-stop service centers, and better enforce federal contractor requirements.

VETERANS' EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING SERVICE: Labor Actions Needed to Improve Accountability and Help States Implement Reforms to Veterans' Employment Services, GAO-06-176
      Full report (pdf, 1.6MB, 62p.)
      Highlights (pdf, 208KB, 1p.)
      Abstract (html)