Illinois lagging in veterans benefits
Sunday, February 5, 2006
Printable FormatDAILY SOUTHTOWN
By Cheryl L. Reed
Besides receiving the least amount of disability benefits in the country, Illinois veterans also are last in the nation for getting hired through veterans job-placement programs.
Only 34 percent of Illinois veterans and 28 percent of disabled Illinois veterans who sought help from the Labor Department's Veterans Employment and Training Service last year were hired.
The national average for veteran hires through the federal program was 62 percent overall and 57 percent for disabled veterans.
Even veterans in states with high unemployment fared better than those in Illinois. For example, the No. 1 state for hiring veterans last year was Louisiana, where 80 percent of veterans seeking jobs were hired. Louisiana's unemployment last year was 6.4 percent while Illinois had 5.5 percent jobless.
"It makes me angry and it's discouraging to thousands of veterans in Illinois who have served their country," said Sen. Barack Obama, (D-Ill.). "We can't afford what appears to be mismanagement of a program that is vital in making sure veterans can support themselves."
Obama, who sits on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, challenged the Labor Department last week to investigate why Illinois veterans have not been getting hired.
Labor officials say Illinois' low hires stem from accounting problems unique to this state.
Job seekers here are not required to use Social Security numbers, which makes tracking veteran hires more difficult. Also, Illinois employment officials do not track veterans who are hired out of state.
Both problems have been resolved, say Labor officials, and the next veterans report due out this spring should show Illinois with more veteran hires.
But Obama said he believes the problem is much broader. Since 2002, the Labor Department has cut money for veteran placement programs in Illinois by 18 percent -- a drop of $1.4 million a year and the third biggest cut in the nation for such programs.
"Given the federal government's troubling history of not paying Illinois veterans the disability pay that they have earned, I'm especially concerned that we are also failing to help our veterans find good jobs," Obama said.
About 700,000 veterans are unemployed, according to the Government Accountability Office, which anticipates a surge in veterans seeking jobs as 200,000 service members return to civilian life each year.
The GAO issued a report in late December that called for the Labor Department to more closely monitor its veterans programs to make sure that priority is given to veterans.