Obama Signs Bipartisan Jobs Bill for Veterans
In our economy today it is evident that there are challenges in finding employment. President Obama has initiated a $447 billion dollar jobs bill in an effort to alleviate hardship on unemployed Americans. This bill focuses on unemployed veterans, some disabled or retired from there duties in the armed forces.
An estimated 1 million service members will disengage from the armed forces between 2011 and 2016. In response to the urgent need to boost job programs for veterans, President Obama signed a bill into law that repeals a requirement that federal, state and local governments begin withholding 3 percent of payments to contractors in 2013.
The measure includes a package of tax breaks for companies that hire unemployed veterans.
- The Returning Heroes Tax Credit provides businesses that hire unemployed veterans with a credit of up to $5,600 per veteran, and the Wounded Warriors Tax Credit offers a credit of $9,600 per veteran for businesses that hire veterans with service-connected disabilities.
- Under the Recovery Act, employers who hired certain unemployed veterans were eligible for a tax credit of up to 40 percent of the first $6,000 of wages, for a maximum credit of $2,400 for veterans who had been unemployed at least four weeks. This credit expired at the end of 2010. For employers who hire veterans unemployed for longer than six months, a new credit of 40 percent of the first $14,000 of wages, up to $5,600, will be applied.
- The Wounded Warrior Tax Credit will double the existing tax credit for long-term unemployed veterans with service-connected disabilities. A new credit of 40 percent of the first $24,000 of wages, up to $9,600, will apply for firms that hire veterans with service-connected disabilities who have been unemployed longer than six months.
- The tax credits for hiring veterans will be afforded by the government in the amount of $95 million and be paid for by extending a fee the Veterans Affairs Department charges on home loans.
- The existing Work Opportunity Tax Credit of up to $4,800 for veterans will remain for veterans
with service connected disabilities.
With the help of the Joining Forces campaign, initiated by the Department of Defense, more than 1,500 private-sector companies have stepped up so far to employ more than 18,000 veterans and spouses and have committed to hiring 135,000 veterans and spouses by the end of 2013. JPMorgan Chase and about 15 other U.S. companies, including Cisco Systems Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc. and AT&T Inc. have pledged to hire 100,000 servicemen by 2020.
If you wish to participate in the veterans’ jobs program, click here.
Sources:
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=66181
http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/801-economy/194849-obama-signs-bill-encouraging-hiring-of-veterans
https://www.nationalresourcedirectory.gov/home/instructions_for_employer_participation