Obama Demands Answers on Illinois’ Last-in-the-Nation Job Placement Rate for Veterans
Thursday, February 2, 2006
Printable FormatFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Washington Contact: Robert Gibbs or Tommy Vietor, (202) 228-5511
Illinois Contact: Julian Green (312) 886-3506
Date: February 2, 2006
Obama Demands Answers on Illinois’ Last-in-the-Nation Job Placement Rate for Veterans
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today demanded answers from the Labor Department on why Illinois ranked dead last among the 50 states for job placement of veterans. In 2005, only 34 percent of all Illinois veterans who sought job placement assistance through the department were able to find jobs. That is roughly half the national average of 62 percent.
“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,” said Obama. “When veterans turn to us to help them find a job, it’s simply unacceptable that too often they’re told, ‘Sorry, we can’t help you’.”
The Labor Department provides grants to each state to hire employment specialists, including 69 in Illinois, to help veterans find employment. Currently, only 34 percent of Illinois veterans who seek assistance at the Department of Labor find jobs. Nationally 62 percent of veterans seeking assistance find employment, and the placement rates for the top two states, Louisiana and Nevada, are 80 percent and 75 percent, respectively.
Obama cited two major factors in the Labor Department’s failure for Illinois Veterans: funding and accountability.
In 2002, in an effort to reform the system, Congress required the Labor Department to change its funding formula for states. This change has been devastating for Illinois, which saw its funding drop 18 percent between 2003 and 2005 ($7.96 million to $6.54 million). This has lead to a reduction in staff and a reshuffling of workers between offices.
Second, the Labor Department has failed to keep track of Illinois’ veterans. Because of accounting problems, Illinois was unable to account for as many as 20 percent of the veterans who sought employment services. Labor depends on these figures to maintain standards and hold individual offices accountable.
At a hearing of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Senator Obama Thursday pressured Labor officials to fix accounting problems and develop a plan for improving care for Illinois veterans.
“Unfortunately, for too long, the Labor Department did not have a handle on what was going with veterans in Illinois,” Obama said. “I am encouraged by steps the Labor Department has taken recently, but much more needs to be done. That means getting the numbers right, figuring out which veterans are falling through the cracks, and developing a plan to help them find jobs and improve service across the board.”