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New HAMP enhancements will help military homeowners

Ted Daywalt — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:43:36 +0000

BY TIM MASSAD AND HOLLY PETRAEUS
This post also appears on the Department of Treasury blog.

Our military families make many sacrifices for our nation, and not just when a servicemember goes into combat. Military families also face challenges when a servicemember receives orders for a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) move to another base, and the family has to decide whether to go along or live apart. Unfortunately, for many military families, this challenge has become more difficult in the wake of the housing market downturn. This is because like other Americans, many military homeowners are currently underwater on their mortgage. Because their home’s value has decreased since they purchased it, these servicemembers may not be able to sell their home at a price that will pay off their mortgage, and they may not be able to rent out their home at a price that will cover their monthly mortgage payments. These military homeowners also may get a lower housing allowance at their new duty station, and may face additional loss of income while their spouse looks for a new job. Suddenly, military homeowners who have been faithfully paying their mortgage on time face a real risk of falling behind.
In the last few weeks, Treasury and the Office of Servicemember Affairs at the CFPB have worked together to address this issue. And, as a result, Treasury is making important changes to its Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) that will provide more opportunities for mortgage assistance to military homeowners.

Many underwater military homeowners have looked for help from mortgage assistance programs to no avail. If they move, they may be told that they are not eligible to modify the mortgage on their home because it’s no longer their primary residence. And they may not qualify for assistance because they are still current on their mortgage or their income has not changed, so they are not considered to have a “verifiable financial hardship,” despite the fact that they now have to pay for housing in two locations. The financial difficulties are stressful enough, but for military homeowners, becoming delinquent on their mortgage can also put their security clearance at risk. If they show a negative change to their credit rating, it not only hurts their ability to get credit, but can actually cause them to lose the security clearance they must have to do their job.

Under recently announced changes to HAMP, which will go into effect June 1, military homeowners and other families who are permanently displaced by a job-related move may still qualify as owner-occupants, which means they may still qualify for a HAMP mortgage modification. The new criteria states that a borrower may qualify if he or she:
• Is displaced due to an out-of-area job transfer such as PCS orders and was occupying the home as a principal residence immediately prior to the displacement;
• Intends to return to the home at some point in the future; and
• Does not own any other single-family real estate.

Military and other families who do own other residential properties may still qualify for a HAMP modification under expanded opportunities available for rental properties announced by Treasury in January. They also may qualify for a short sale through Treasury’s Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program (HAFA).

Our servicemembers deserve our full support. We don’t want any member of our military to be forced by financial challenges to leave their family behind. This would be a heartbreaking decision for any family, but it’s especially tough for military families, who often face long periods of separation during deployment. These changes to HAMP are one way Treasury and the CFPB are working together to support military families and the many other hardworking families struggling to maintain homeownership.

Tim Massad is the Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Holly Petraeus is the Assistant Director for Servicemember Affairs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Next Practices

Ted Daywalt — Mon, 07 May 2012 21:42:56 +0000

The Web is crowded with articles extolling the best practices for finding a new or better job. I’ve contributed a few of those missives myself. Recently, however, I heard a fellow describe best practices as “stuff that used to work.” In other words, by the time something has become a best practice, it’s likely also to have become obsolete. What’s the alternative? Next Practices.

Next Practices are emerging ideas that have a positive impact on your job search. They are not widely known or even accepted, but that’s part of their value. They enable you to stand out from the herd. And, in today’s crowded job market, that’s an important advantage, in and of itself.

No less important, Next Practices address the world as it is, not as it has been. They are effective because they are timely and on point. They deal with the situations you face, not those that were faced by job seekers a decade ago, or five years ago, or before the Great Recession and Lousy Recovery changed everything. To put it another way, Next Practices correct best practices.

Unlike best practices, however, Next Practices are not fixed. They aren’t etched in stone as if they were social commandments. They are fluid and frequently in flux. They are correct for the circumstances we face today, but they may have to morph to respond to the changes in those circumstances that will inevitably occur tomorrow and the day after.

What are some of these Next Practices? The two below will give you a sense of how they work.

Don’t believe what you’re told about a college degree.

What’s been the best practice for the last twenty years? Go get a college degree and your career success is locked in. It was good advice in the past; it’s the kiss of death today. If you have any doubt about that, ask the 53.6 percent of college graduates under the age of 25 who are now unemployed or underemployed.

What’s the Next Practice? Go get a college degree and a degree in career self-management. Learn how to be an expert in a field of study that interests you and an expert in putting that expertise to work.

There is a body of knowledge and set of skills involved in preparing for and then continuously succeeding in the job market. Sadly, you won’t find either offered on most U.S. college campuses these days; the faculty doesn’t consider them important enough to warrant inclusion in the curriculum. Contrast that view with the one in China, where such a course is a requirement for graduation.

What should you do if you’ve been out of college for awhile and are in transition? Find a career counselor or coach with whom you’re comfortable and tap their wisdom. Invest the same level of effort you devoted to acquiring your college diploma (minus all the social stuff), but this time you’ll be getting an education that will actually help you find a job and lead a successful career.

Don’t rely on accomplishments to set yourself apart from other job seekers.

What’s been the best practice for the last twenty years? Feature your work accomplishments on your resume to make it stand out. It was good advice in the past; today, however, employers expect more. They no longer believe that excellence in the past is a predictor of excellence in the future.

What’s the Next Practice? Add a new section called ‘What I Learned’ to each job description in the Experience section of your resume. Use it to list the top 3-5 new skills or areas of knowledge you acquired through doing your work. From an employer’s perspective, it’s that personal growth that is the best insurance you will continue to deliver superior performance on-the-job.

Why are these two changes so important? Because the half-life of your expertise is shrinking by the year. Don’t believe it? Think about this: for the first time ever, in 2008, we humans created 4 terabytes (4 times 10 to the 19th power) of new information in just one year. That’s more new knowledge than was created in the first 5,000 years of human history. So, the only way to land a job and hang onto it these days is if you see yourself as a work-in-progress, and highlight that person to employers on our resume.

Putting a check mark in the Education box and touting the success you had in your last job are the quintessential “stuff that used to work.” If you want employers to value your expertise in today’s workplace and believe you will contribute that value to their success, you have to do what works today. You have to use Next Practices.

Thanks for reading,
Peter
Visit me at Weddles.com

Peter Weddle is the author of over two dozen employment-related books, including A Multitude of Hope: A Novel About Rediscovering the American Dream, The Success Matrix: Wisdom from the Web on How to Get Hired & Not Be Fired, WEDDLE’s 2011/12 Guide to Employment Sites on the Internet, The Career Activist Republic, and Work Strong, Your Personal Career Fitness System. Get them at Amazon.com and www.Weddles.com today.

Veteran Employment Situation Report for April 2012

Ted Daywalt — Fri, 04 May 2012 22:45:26 +0000

Welcome to the second edition of the VetJobs Veteran Employment Situation Report covering April 2012. Should you know of others who may want this information, they can sign up for the report by sending an email request to contact@vetjobs.com.

This report will be in three parts. The first will summarize the Bureau of Labor Statistics report on the labor market, the second covers where the jobs were created and the third covers the unemployment situation in the veteran market.

BLS Unemployment Summary

Before getting into the BLS report, I have raised questions in the past about the accuracy of numbers when it comes to unemployment reports, especially during a political year. Elizabeth MacDonald just published an article called Lies, Damned Lies and Government Jobs Data which echoes the concerns of many economists.

She points out that there is lots of talk about the “fiscal cliff” the U.S. faces at year end, as stimulus and tax cuts go away, so the last thing the government needs now is market distrust in its job numbers. But, as analysts dig into the government job numbers, questions are increasingly being raised about the reliability of the data, from questionable revisions in the weekly jobless numbers to the odd changes in unemployment rates.

For 59 out of the last 60 weeks, the weekly jobless numbers have been revised, after the fact, always in the same direction: higher. That’s unheard of. MacDonald points out that those revisions higher make the present week’s unemployment number look better in comparison, more so since the markets often treat the prior week’s revision as an afterthought.

And there is statistical information missing in the unemployment rate. The government’s reported unemployment number does not adequately include people who stopped looking for work, but who want jobs. The unemployment rate is the number of people out of work but who are actively looking. The government doesn’t count in that rate the now 6.3 million who have given up and stopped looking for work, but want jobs. That number has grown from 5.7 million in January 2009.

So the improving unemployment rate is quite artificial. The unemployment rate has been going down not because more jobs have been created and filled, the rate has gone down due to workers giving up and dropping out of the labor force.

A more indicative number to follow is the labor force participation rate. If the adult labor force participation rate stayed the same today as it was when the Great Recession ended in June 2009, at 67.5%, the unemployment rate would be 10.9%.

“Some 80% of the reduction” in the unemployment rate from 10% hit in October 2009 to today’s 8.2% “has been from adults quitting the labor force,” says economist Peter Morici. Morici adds the unemployment rate “rises to 14.5% if you factor back in those who’ve stopped looking for work but would re-enter if there were jobs, as well as part-time workers who would prefer full-time positions.”

America has lost a net 740,000 jobs since 2008. The engine of U.S. job growth, small businesses (those with 1-49 employees), reported a weak 58,000 jobs created, the third straight monthly decline and the lowest since August. Small businesses that produce goods lost jobs, too. Large businesses with more than 500 employees added just 4,000 jobs.

The bottom line is the labor force participation rate should not shrink during a recovery, it should be growing. And that is not happening in the American economy.

The unemployment rate declined to 8.1% in April, down from March’s 8.2%. The decline is the result of the size of the labor force, the number of employed and the number of unemployed all lower, but in varying degrees.

Under these circumstances, a drop in the unemployment rate is not a healthy sign for the job market.

The 115,000 jobs added in April were fewer than the 154,000 jobs added in March, a number the government revised up from its first report a month ago of 120,000. It also marked a sharp decline from December through February, when the economy averaged 252,000 jobs per month.

Job creation has been frustratingly slow since the Great Recession ended. Only 43% of the jobs lost have been regained 34 months later.

Economists note that “jobless recoveries” are becoming more frequent. In part, that’s because layoffs during recessions are more likely to be permanent. Factory workers who were cut in previous downturns were usually hired back once the economy perked up. Many of those jobs are now permanently lost. Companies are also quicker to lay off employees at the first sign of slowing growth. And as they find ways to squeeze more work from their remaining staffers, they’re slower to rehire.

Although the vacancy rate has finally recovered to the level for the period after a recession, clearly the unemployment rate has not. The persistent high unemployment rate despite an acceptable number of vacancies in a post-recessionary period, are reflective of a mismatch between the requirements of the job openings and available workers’ job skills. The lack of enough qualified people to fill a rising number of job openings is being widely reported throughout the media and indeed is a phenomenon

Where the New Jobs Were Created

The number of jobs in the private Goods-producing sector grew by 14,000 in April, which was well below February’s gain of 38,000 and March’s growth of 36,000.
-The Construction sector was down 2,000 jobs in April after eliminating 3,000 in March. However, two sub-sectors — Heavy and civil engineering as well as Residential specialty trade contractors — added jobs last month.
-Manufacturers continued to add jobs, but at a slower rate. In April, they added only 16,000 jobs after adding 41,000 in March and 30,000 in February.
-Mining and logging was flat in April as well as March. However, its Oil and gas extraction sub-sector added 800 jobs in April.

The private Service-providing sector added only 116,000 new jobs in April, which was a little worse than the 128,000 it added in March but well below the 218,000 gain in February.
-The Retail trade sector reversed direction and added 29,300 in April after eliminating 20,900 in March and cutting 15,200 in February. Building material and garden supply stores added a notable number of new jobs last month.
-Wholesale trade found space for 7,400 new jobs in April after adding only 2,900 in March and bringing 7,000 more in February.
-Jobs in the Transportation and warehousing sector came to a screeching halt as it eliminated 16,600 jobs in April after adding only 1,800 in March and bringing in 14,300 new jobs in February. The Transit and ground passenger transportation sub-sector must have lost its way since it declined by 11,000 jobs last month.
-The Financial activities sector seemed to lose interest in adding jobs with only 1,000 new jobs last month after adding 14,000 in March and 7,000 new ones in February.
-The Professional and business services sector added 62,000 jobs in April, which is encouraging after adding only 37,000 in March but still less than the 89,000 it added in February. Computer systems design and related services added 7,400 jobs in April and Management and technical consulting services, which is smaller, added 6,400.
-The Education and health services sector added a total of 23,000 jobs in April with the highly seasonal Educational services sub-sector contributing 4,300 of those new jobs. This means that the Health care and social assistance portion was up about 18,400 jobs, with several major sub-sectors adding jobs including Home health care services that added 6,300. However, Nursing care facilities as well as Child day care services eliminated a number of jobs.
-The celebration continued in the Leisure and hospitality sector but it was a subdued party with only 12,000 new jobs last month compared to the gain of 52,000 in March and 45,000 in February. However, the sector’s loss last month can be traced back to its Arts, entertainment, and recreation sub-sector as the Accommodation and food services sub-sector added a rousing 26,700 jobs in April.

The total number of Government jobs declined last month by 15,000. In April, the Federal government was down 4,000, State government added 1,000, and Local government eliminated 12,000 jobs, again with most of those cuts in education.

VETERAN UNEMPLOYMENT REPORT

The BLS CPS reports there were 21,256,000 veterans alive in April, down from 21,286,000 in March, a loss of 30,000 veterans in April. There were 11,114,000 veterans in the workforce in April, down from the 11,161,000 in the workforce in March. This is a decline of 47,000 veterans in the workforce.

The CPS overall veteran unemployment rate for April is 7.1%, down from the March rate of 7.5%. There were 785,000 unemployed veterans in April, down from the 834,000 unemployed veterans in February.

The fact that the veteran overall unemployment rate is lower than the national unemployment rate indicates that veterans as a class are still having better success finding employment than non-veterans.

However, the unemployment rate for the 18 to 24 year old veterans rose in April to 18.6% (39,000 unemployed ) from 17.8% in March (40,000 unemployed). The gross number of unemployed 18 to 24 year olds went down, but the percentage of unemployed went up.

The overall unemployment rate for all 18 to 24 year olds (veterans and nonveterans) was 14.6% with a total of 2,746,000 unemployed.

VetJobs anticipates the unemployment rate for the young veterans will increase more as DOD starts the furlough of 140,000 active duty troops and many of the National Guard and Reserve brigades start returning from their mustering stations in Kuwait.

If you have any questions, please contact Ted Daywalt at tdaywalt@vetjobs.com or call 877-838-5627 (877-Vet-Jobs).

VetJobs
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Marietta, GA 30007-1445
o 877.838.5627 (877-Vet-Jobs)
o 770-993-5117 X222
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Veterans make the best employees!
Freedom Is Never Free – Support Our Armed Forces and Veterans!
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VetJobs Early Eagle – May

Ted Daywalt — Thu, 03 May 2012 17:46:19 +0000

Issue 13:04, Tuesday, May 1, 2012
www.vetjobs.com

VetJobs is an appropriate employment service delivery system for EEOC, VEVRAA/JVA and OFCCP compliance support!

The VetJobs Early Eagle is for member employers, recruiters, friends and supporters of VetJobs. Feel free to forward this newsletter to friends and other employers.

This issue sponsored by TECHEXPO Top Secret and CRI University

Contents:

1. Message from the Top

2. VetJobs Virtual Career Fair

3. President Signs Executive Order Protecting Veterans from For Profit Schools

4. Veterans Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP)

7. National Guard (in Federal Status) and Reserve Activated as of May 1, 2012

8. Significant Events this Month in Military History

Thank you for reading the VetJobs Early Eagle employer newsletter. If you like this newsletter and what VetJobs and the VFW do to assist veterans and their family member find employment, please go to http://www.weddles.com/poll.htm and vote VetJobs for the WEDDLE’s User’s Choice Award!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
1. Message from the Top

As reported in the past, VetJobs has been in the lead to correct the problems that certain for-profit training schools, -online schools and -universities have been causing for active duty military, veterans and their family members. I was interviewed by PBS Frontline (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/educating-sergeant-pantzke/) for a second program in the PBS Frontline series that is investigating and exposing problems surrounding this issue. As I mentioned in the interview, not all for-profit educational programs are bad. There are many excellent for-profit schools that meet a definite need in the market place.

Last week the president signed an executive order to start the process to curtail certain for-profit schools (see article 3 below). While not what many wanted, this is at least a start. As we move forward into next year, VetJobs and other veteran service organizations will continue to push for legislation to protect veterans from the “predatory” for-profit schools.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The special days of recognition this month include:

Loyalty Day – May 1
National Day of Prayer – May 3
Cinco de Mayo – May 5
Victory in Europe Day – May 8
Mother’s Day – May 13
Military Spouse Appreciation Week – May 7 to 11
Armed Forces Day – May 19
National Maritime Day – May 22
Memorial Day – May 28

Loyalty Day is on May 1 each year. It is a special day for people to reaffirm their loyalty to the United States and to recognize the heritage of American freedom.

In 1933, Congress decreed May 22 as National Maritime Day and each year since then it has been a day for the United States to observe its proud maritime heritage, honor the men and women who serve and have served as merchant mariners, and recognize the many benefits that result from our American maritime industry.

Victory in Europe Day marks the date when the World War II Allies formally celebrated the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich. Of interest, the Allies had agreed to mark May 9, 1945 as Victory in Europe Day, but Western journalists broke the news of Germany’s surrender prematurely (some things never change!), precipitating the earlier celebration. If you know a World War II veteran, tell them thank you for freeing our world from the Nazi socialist tyranny and for preserving the freedoms and our free market economy we enjoy today!

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women’s groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War. While Waterloo, NY, was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it’s difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day. It is more likely that it had many separate beginnings; each of those towns and every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead in the 1860s tapped into the general human need to honor our dead.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
On the economic front, the American economy is still not making much progress. There are over 18,000,000 people unemployed, and yet I hear daily from employers stating they cannot find enough “qualified” candidates. In many respects, the country never came out of the recession.

Unemployment in the Eurozone rose to a new high in March with unemployment in the 17 European countries reaching 10.8%.That is up from 9.9% over the same month last year. Britain’s economy has fallen back into recession for the first time since 2009 after recent official figures showed that it unexpectedly contracted during the first three months of the year. The Office for National Statistics said economic output as measured by gross domestic product fell by 0.2 percent in the first three months of the year from the previous quarter. The first quarter drop follows the 0.3 percent decline recorded in the last quarter of 2011 and means Britain has returned to recession — two consecutive quarters of negative growth are required for a country to be officially deemed to be in recession.

In the United States, amid disappointing unemployment numbers that fell 80,000 jobs short of projections, another number is raising eyebrows: the number of Americans not in the labor force has hit a record high 87,897,000 per the Department of Labor and reported by many economists. This figure helps to explain why overall unemployment dropped from 8.3% to 8.2%, as the Department of Labor’s unemployment figure does not include people who have given up hope and are not actively seeking employment. When the number of individuals who have stopped looking for a job and/or who are working part-time but desire full-time employment is included–a figure known as the “underemployment rate”–real unemployment stands at 19.1%

On the negative side:
-The ADP employment report shows the private sector added 119,000 jobs in April, significantly fewer than the 177,000 jobs expected.

-Leading economist says this is the weakest recovery since WWII

-U.S. housing starts slid 5.8% in March to a 654,000-unit rate, missing expectations of a 705,000-unit rate and marking the lowest level since October 2011. Housing permits rose 4.5% during the month to a 747,000-unit rate, topping estimates of a 710,000-unit rate.

-The New York Federal Reserve’s regional manufacturing gauge dropped to 6.56 in April from 20.21 in March, far short of expectations of 18. Readings above zero point to expansion, while those below indicate contraction.

-A preliminary reading on consumer sentiment for the month of April came in at 75.7, lower than a final March reading of 76.2, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan. Economists had expected the reading to remain unchanged.

-The Institute for Supply Management said its services sector index in April dropped to 53.5% from 56.0% in March to mark the worst reading since December

- The Institute for Supply Management’s gauge of service-sector a ctivity fell to 53.5 in April from 56 in March. Economists were expecting a reading of 55.5.
- U.S. productivity fell 0.5% in the first quarter, but none of the decline occurred in manufacturing

On the positive side:
-Retail sales rose 0.8% in March, more than doubling expectations for a 0.3% rise. Excluding the auto segment, sales were up 0.8%, topping estimates of 0.6%.

- The U.S. economy grew at a modest-to-moderate pace in mid-February though late March, according to the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book. However, the central bank is growing increasingly concerned over what impact rising energy costs will have on consumers.

-Mortgage rates are at record lows, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage average declining to 3.84% in the week ending May 3 from 3.88% in the prior week

- New claims for unemployment benefits fell to 365,000 last week, the lowest since March 31, from an upwardly revised 392,000 the prior week. The drop was the biggest since May 2011. Economists were expecting a drop to 380,000 from an initially reported 388,000.

-The European Central Bank said Thursday it is keeping its main refinancing rate unchanged at a record low of 1% as expected.

As you can see, most of the economic news is not good. Hopefully those in power in Washington will eventually learn that socialism does not sell well in America. Time will tell.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
As always, if there is anything we at VetJobs can do for you, please do not hesitate to call or email.

Remember, Freedom Is Never Free – Support Our Armed Forces and Veterans

Best regards,

Ted Daywalt
President

/—May Early Eagle sponsor is TECHEXPO Top Secret—-\

TECHEXPO Top Secret’s next job fairs are:

5/9, TECHEXPO Top Secret Career Fair, BWI Marriott, 1743 West Nursery Road, Linthicum Heights, MD, 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Security clearance is required for attendance. Register at www.techexpousa.com

5/15, TECHEXPO Top Secret Career Fair, Tysons Corner Ritz Carlton, 1700 Tysons Blvd, McLean, VA, 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Security clearance is required for attendance. Register at www.techexpousa.com

5/22, TECHEXPO Top Secret Career Fair, Lee Club, Battle Drive, Building 9009 Fort Lee, VA, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Security clearance is required for attendance. Register at www.techexpousa.com

TECHEXPO Top Secret job fairs bring you face to face with security-cleared professionals. For 2011 event schedule, contact Nancy Mathew 212-655-4505 x225 or NMathew@TechExpoUSA.com. http://www.TechExpoUSA.com

\—–Please visit your Early Eagle sponsor TECHEXPO Top Secret —-/

2. VetJobs Virtual Career Fair

VetJobs has entered the virtual career fair business to assist employers in reaching qualified veterans. Our second VetJobs Veteran Career Fair launched on May 1 and runs through May 15. If you want information on this event or on the next two, please contact Tom Cushman at tcushman@vetjobs.com.

/—April Early Eagle sponsor is CRI University—\

CRI University provides informative and dynamic one-hour webinars and recorded educational sessions on important HR topics that impact every employer who employs fifteen or more people. CRI University topics are offered both live and as recorded sessions for registrants who choose to view the materials and listen to the recording at their leisure.

These webinars and educational sessions are as important to CEOs, COOs, and CFOs as they are for HR personnel due to the myriad of changes in employment laws, regulations, discrimination findings and court case findings in 2009 and thus far in 2011.

April webinars are:

EEOC and OFCCP Compliance
Wednesday, April 4, 2012, 11:00 AM Central Time
Wednesday, April 25, 2012 11:00 AM Central Time

Understanding the Achiever in the Selection and Development Process.
Friday, April 13, 2012, 11:00 AM Central Time

Each webinar is $65 and the website to register for a webinar is www.criuniversity.com

\—–Please visit your Early Eagle sponsor CRI University at www.criuniversity.com ——/

3. President Signs Executive Order Protecting Veterans from For Profit Schools

On a visit to Fort Stewart in Georgia on Friday, the President signed an Executive Order designed to protect veterans and servicemembers and their families from colleges that seek to mislead and swindle them. In his speech, the president said:

I’m not talking about all schools. Many of them — for-profit and non-profit — provide quality education to our servicemembers and our veterans and their families. But there are some bad actors out there. They’ll say you don’t have to pay a dime for your degree but once you register, they’ll suddenly make you sign up for a high interest student loan. They’ll say that if you transfer schools, you can transfer credits. But when you try to actually do that, you suddenly find out that you can’t. They’ll say they’ve got a job placement program when, in fact, they don’t. It’s not right. They’re trying to swindle and hoodwink you. And today, here at Fort Stewart, we’re going to put an end to it.

The goal of the Executive Order is to
-Provide students with educational and financial information to make informed decisions.
-End fraudulent and aggressive recruiting techniques on and off military installations.
-Ensure support services for service-members and veterans.-
-Develop and collect service member- and veteran-specific student outcome data-
-Create a centralized complaint system for students receive-g military and veterans’ educational benefits
-Begin the process to trademark the term “GI Bill.”

4. Veterans Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP)

The Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) and the Department of Labor (DOL) are working together to roll out this new program on July 1, 2012. The VRAP offers 12 months of training assistance to Veterans who:
-Are at least 35 but no more than 60 years old
-Are unemployed
-Received an other than dishonorable discharge
-Are not eligible for any other VA education benefit program (e.g.: the Post-9/11 GI Bill, Montgomery GI Bill, Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Assistance)
-Are not in receipt of VA compensation due to unemployability
-Are not enrolled in a federal or state job training program

The program is limited to 45,000 participants during fiscal year 2012, and to 54,000 participants from October 1, 2012, through March 31, 2014. Participants will receive a monthly payment equal to the full-time payment rate under the Montgomery GI Bill–Active Duty program (currently $1,473 per month). DOL will offer employment assistance to every Veteran who participates or applies to the VRAP program.
Participants must be enrolled in a VA approved program of education offered by a community college or technical school. The program must lead to an Associate Degree, Non-College Degree, or a Certificate, and train the Veteran for a high demand occupation. The VRAP will provide training for programs of education that lead to a high demand occupation, as determined by the Department of Labor

The Department of Labor and the Department of Veterans Affairs will begin accepting applications May 15, 2012. To complete the application, you will need to know your direct deposit information (bank routing number and account number), the name and location of your school, the program you wish to pursue, and the high demand occupation that your program leads to. Apply for VRAP on or after May 15, 2012. For more information, visit http://benefits.va.gov/vow/education.htm

5. National Guard (in Federal Status) and Reserve Activated as of May 1, 2012

The total number currently on active duty from the Army National Guard and Army Reserve is 50,331; Navy Reserve, 4,557; Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, 10,050; Marine Corps Reserve, 4,482, and the Coast Guard Reserve, 811. This brings the total National Guard and Reserve personnel who have been activated to 70,231, including both units and individual augmentees. A cumulative roster of all National Guard and Reserve personnel who are currently activated may be found on line at http://www.defense.gov/news/d20120501ngr.pdf

6. Significant Events this Month in Military History

1756 – French & Indian War began, lasting for seven years.

1846 – The U.S. declared war against Mexico. Mexican troops under General Mariano Arista were defeated at Palo Alto, Texas, by U.S. Army under General Zachary Taylor. (Mexican American War)

1863 – Confederate General Robert E. Lee defeated Union troops under Union General Joseph Hooker at the Battle of Chancellorsville, VA, with the considerable aid of Confederate General Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson, who decisively routed the Union right wing. (Civil War)

1940 – German troops invaded Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. (WW II)

1942 – Congress created the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC).

1942 – Fall of Corregidor (WW II)

1942 – Battle of the Coral Sea, the first major naval action fought without either side having visual contact with enemy forces. (WW II)

1945 – German forces surrendered Berlin to the Russians. (WW II)

1945 – The German military in Europe surrendered unconditionally to GEN Eisenhower and other allied commanders in a French school building at Rheims, France, ending World War II in Europe. V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day) was formally proclaimed on 8 May. (WW II)

1968 – Mini-Tet (Vietnam War)

1972 – Operation Linebacker (Vietnam War)

1975 – Capture and Release of SS Mayaguez by Khmer Rouge forces, the first battle action of the United States Navy boarding a ship at sea since 1826.
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VetJobs is exclusively sponsored and partially owned by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (www.vfw.org) and endorsed by the Vietnam Veterans of America (www.vva.org), the Association of the US Navy (www.ausn.org), the Veterans of Modern Warfare (www.vmwusa.org), Student Veterans of America (www.studentveterans.org), Military Order of the Purple Heart (www.purpleheart.org), Hope4Heroes (www.hope4heroes.org), United States Army Warrant Officers Association (www.usawoa.org), The Retired Enlisted Association (www.trea.org) and the National Guard Association of the United States (www.ngaus.org)
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VetJobs Veteran Eagle – May

Ted Daywalt — Wed, 02 May 2012 21:11:37 +0000

Issue 13:05, Tuesday, May 1, 2012
www.vetjobs.com

The Veteran Eagle is a newsletter for veterans, transitioning military, their family members and friends and supporters of VetJobs. Feel free to forward the newsletter to veterans and friends and encourage them to subscribe.

This month’s Veteran Eagle is sponsored by: BNSF Railway, TECHEXPO Top Secret and iVetConnect

Contents:

1. Message from the Top

2. Scam Letter

3. No Firearms on VA Properties

4, The Department of Defense releases fiscal 2011 Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military

5. Veterans Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP)

6. Camps for Military Teens

7. President Signs Executive Order Protecting Veterans from For Profit Schools

8. National Guard (in Federal Status) and Reserve Activated as of May 1, 2012

9. Significant Events this Month in Military History

Thank you for reading this VetJobs Veteran Eagle newsletter. If you like the newsletter and what VetJobs, the VFW and endorsing veteran service organizations do to assist veterans and their family members find employment, please go to www.weddles.com/poll.htm and vote VetJobs for the WEDDLE’s User’s Choice Award!

- – - – - From the VFW – - – - – - – -
VFW Sponsored Insurance Programs
For information about various insurance plans sponsored by VFW National Headquarters, please visit www.vfwinsurance.com or call 1-800-821-2606, opt. 1

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NOTE: If you have a resume in the VetJobs database, be sure to update your experience and refresh your resume at a minimum of every two weeks. VetJobs has many new customers using the resume database and as a general rule, they do not look at resumes over 30 days old.

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1. Message from the Top

As reported in the past, VetJobs is involved in the problems certain for-profit training schools, for-profit online schools and for-profit universities have been causing for active duty military, veterans and their family members. I was interviewed by PBS Frontline for a second program in the PBS Frontline series that is investigating and exposing problems surrounding this issue. As I mentioned in the interview, not all for-profit educational programs are bad. There are many excellent pro-profit schools that meet a definite need in the market place.

Last week the president signed an executive order to start the process to curtail certain for-profit schools (see article 7 below). While not what many wanted, this is at least a start. As we move forward into next year, VetJobs and other veteran service organizations will continue to push for legislation to protect veterans from the “predatory” for-profit schools.

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The special days of recognition this month include:

Loyalty Day is on May 1 each year. It is a special day for people to reaffirm their loyalty to the United States and to recognize the heritage of American freedom.

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On the economic front, the American economy is still not making much progress.

Amid disappointing unemployment numbers that fell 80,000 jobs short of projections, another number is raising eyebrows: the number of Americans not in the labor force has hit a record high 87,897,000 per the Department of Labor and reported by many economists. This figure helps to explain why overall unemployment dropped from 8.3% to 8.2%, as the Department of Labor’s unemployment figure does not include people who have given up hope and are not actively seeking employment. When the number of individuals who have stopped looking for a job and/or who are working part-time but desire full-time employment is included–a figure known as the “underemployment rate”–real unemployment stands at 19.1%

On the negative side:
-The ADP employment report shows the private sector added 119,000 jobs in April, significantly fewer than the 177,000 jobs expected.

-Leading economist says this is the weakest recovery since WWII

On the positive side:
-Retail sales rose 0.8% in March, more than doubling expectations for a 0.3% rise. Excluding the auto segment, sales were up 0.8%, topping estimates of 0.6%.

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As always, if there is anything we at VetJobs can do for you, please do not hesitate to call or email.

Remember, Freedom Is Never Free – Support Our Armed Forces and Veterans

Best regards,

Ted Daywalt
President

/—May Veteran Eagle sponsor is BNSF Railway—-\

BNSF Railway, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., is actively seeking applicants with military experience. At BNSF, we salute those with service, value their skills and welcome the unique experiences of our service members. From skilled craftsmen to first-line supervisors, we filled over 5,000 positions in 2011. BNSF offers challenging and rewarding career opportunities for those in transition from military to civilian life as well as veterans, retirees and members of National Guard and Reserve components.

Today’s BNSF Railway, a product of nearly 400 different railroad lines that merged or were acquired over the course of 160 years, has been quietly delivering cars, coal, clothing, games and nearly anything else found in homes and businesses. While many different railroads combined to form BNSF, the people who worked at those railroads shared many traits. The people who built BNSF were — and continue to be — a unique breed, blending the forward-thinking of dreamers with the pragmatism of results-oriented business leaders. This heritage played a central role in settling and growing the American West, and today, BNSF continues to have a significant impact in meeting the needs of shippers and serving the economy. If you are seeking a challenging and rewarding career with a company that appreciates your military experience, then visit http://www.bnsf.com/careers/military/index.html to apply.

\—–Please visit your Veteran Eagle sponsor BNSF Railway—–/

2. Scam Letter

A letter is making the circuit purporting to be from the Defense Finance Accounting Service (DFAS) asking military member’s fiancées to register in the system entitling them to benefits in the event of the member’s death, all for only a $350 fee. This is not a genuine DFAS letter — it is a scam. The letter is a typical scam phishers use to try and obtain your personal information and, in this case, money. DFAS will never send unsolicited e-mail messages with attachments.

/—May Veteran Eagle sponsor is TECHEXPO Top Secret—-\

TECHEXPO Top Secret’s next career fairs are:

5/9, TECHEXPO Top Secret Career Fair, BWI Marriott, 1743 West Nursery Road, Linthicum Heights, MD, 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Security clearance is required for attendance. Register at www.techexpousa.com

5/15, TECHEXPO Top Secret Career Fair, Tysons Corner Ritz Carlton, 1700 Tysons Blvd, McLean, VA,
10:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Security clearance is required for attendance. Register at www.techexpousa.com

5/22, TECHEXPO Top Secret Career Fair, Lee Club, Battle Drive, Building 9009 Fort Lee, VA, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Security clearance is required for attendance. Register at www.techexpousa.com

Interview with leading government contractors! Full schedule, event details, & pre-registration are available at www.TechExpoUSA.com. The career fair is for professionals with active or recent security clearances only. Free admission. If you attend a TECHEXPO career fair, please indicate you learned of the career fair from VetJobs.

\—Please visit your Veteran Eagle sponsor TECHEXPO Top Secret at www.techexpousa.com—-/

3. No Firearms on VA Properties

Kevin Secor of the VA reports that in the continuing effort of ensuring a safe and secure environment, while still providing open and accessible service, the Department of Veterans Affairs would like to remind you that possession of firearms is illegal, under Federal law, at all VA facilities and properties. This applies even to those individuals who have a State-issued permit to carry a concealed firearm. Persons found in possession of a firearm on Federal property are subject to arrest, citation, and confiscation of their firearms. So, please ensure that you leave your firearm at home, and properly stored, when you visit any of our VA facilities or properties.

/—May Veteran Eagle sponsor is iVetConnect—-\

Veterans interested in learning about franchise ownership are invited to join a FREE webinar “Veterans Exploring Franchise Ownership”. Learn how you can leverage your military experience through franchise ownership and how your unique qualifications improve your chances for success.

Sr. Franchise Consultant, Laurie Pollock, and retired Army Captain and 2-time franchise owner, Christian Germain, will talk about how to evaluate franchise opportunities, best information sources, discounts for veterans, training, support, and how to get funding/financing. They’ll also talk about Boost A Hero, crowd-funding for veterans to raise the capital to buy a franchise, and iVetConnect, a new LinkedIn group to help veterans find veteran business partners. They’ll open up the lines at the end of the webinar to answer your individual questions.

This month’s webinar date is Monday, May 7th at 4pm CT / 5pm ET. To register, go to: http://www.anymeeting.com/PIID=ED54DA85814D

If you’re unable to make the webinar, email lauriepollock@franchoice.com or call 1.800.818.9929 to request a free one-on-one consultation.

\—Please visit your Veteran Eagle sponsor iVetConnect at www.franchoice.com—-/

4, The Department of Defense releases fiscal 2011 Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military

The report finds that in fiscal 2011, there were a total of 3,192 reports of sexual assault involving service members as either victims or subjects. This represents a 1.0% increase in reports of sexual assault compared to fiscal 2010. The report also details actions taken against the subjects investigated as a result of these reports. In fiscal 2011, the department had jurisdiction and sufficient evidence to take disciplinary action against 791 subjects for a sexual assault offense. Of these subjects, 489, or 62% had courts-martial charges preferred against them. That represents a 10% increase in the rate of courts-martial charges preferred compared to fiscal 2010. The proportion of military subjects against whom commanders decided to take disciplinary action for sexual assault offenses by preferring court-martial charges has increased steadily since fiscal 2007, when only 30% of subjects had charges initiated against them. Since August 2011, a two star general has overseen the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office and under the leadership of the secretary of defense, several new victim-focused policies have been implemented since the end of fiscal 2011. These included expanded legal assistance, expedited transfers for victims of sexual assault, and extended retention of forensic examination and investigative reports. The complete report is available at http://www.sapr.mil and you can view a fact sheet of the report at http://www.defense.gov/news/sexualassaultannualreportfactsheet.pdf . For specific information regarding the military departments, contact the Army at 703-697-2564, the Navy at 703-697-5342, and the Air Force at 703-695-0640.

5. Veterans Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP)

6. Camps for Military Teens

Purdue University in partnership with the Office of the Secretary of Defense Military Community and Family Policy announced today the locations of the 2012 Extension-Military High Adventure Camps. Would you like to spend time whitewater rafting, hiking, rock climbing, winter camping, backpacking, mountain biking, exploring the environment, running ropes courses, geo-caching, or practicing wilderness skills? What if you could do these activities with other military youth just like you?

Military teens (14-18 years old) will have an opportunity to participate in adventure camps scheduled April 2012 through March 2013. These high energy, high adventure, and high experience camps are planned across the United States from Alaska to Maine and from Colorado to Georgia as well as states in between. There are even opportunities for military teens in the Pacific Rim. This is the perfect chance for you to experience the outdoors as you never have before! Each camp offers a unique outdoor experience that will allow you to build your leadership, self-confidence, and teamwork skills while participating in activities like camp cooking and archery. Camps have funding available to assist with transportation costs. Camps for youth with special needs (mental, physical, and emotional) are also planned in California, Ohio, and New Hampshire. There is something for everyone! For more information and how to register, visit http://www.extension.purdue.edu/Adventure_camps/

7. President Signs Executive Order Protecting Veterans from For Profit Schools

The goal of the Executive Order is to
-Provide students with educational and financial information to make informed decisions.
?End fraudulent and aggressive recruiting techniques on and off military installations.
?Ensure support services for service-members and veterans.
?Develop and collect service member- and veteran-specific student outcome data.
?Create a centralized complaint system for students receiving military and veterans’ educational benefits
?Begin the process to trademark the term “GI Bill.”

8. National Guard (in Federal Status) and Reserve Activated as of May 1, 2012

9. Significant Events this Month in Military History

1756 – French & Indian War began, lasting for seven years.

1846 – The U.S. declared war against Mexico. Mexican troops under General Mariano Arista were defeated at Palo Alto, Texas, by U.S. Army under General Zachary Taylor. (Mexican American War)

1940 – German troops invaded Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. (WW II)

1942 – Congress created the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC).

1942 – Fall of Corregidor (WW II)

1942 – Battle of the Coral Sea, the first major naval action fought without either side having visual contact with enemy forces. (WW II)

1945 – German forces surrendered Berlin to the Russians. (WW II)

1968 – Mini-Tet (Vietnam War)

1972 – Operation Linebacker (Vietnam War)

1975 – Capture and Release of SS Mayaguez by Khmer Rouge forces, the first battle action of the United States Navy boarding a ship at sea since 1826.

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VetJobs is exclusively sponsored and partially owned by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (www.vfw.org) and endorsed by the Vietnam Veterans of America (www.vva.org), the Association of the US Navy (www.ausn.org), the Veterans of Modern Warfare (www.vmwusa.org), Student Veterans of America (www.studentveterans.org), Military Order of the Purple Heart (www.purpleheart.org), Hope4Heroes (www.hope4heroes.org), United States Army Warrant Officers Association (www.usawoa.org), The Retired Enlisted Association (www.trea.org) and the National Guard Association of the United States (www.ngaus.org)
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You were opted-in when you posted a resume, were referred to VetJobs or were part of a military organization which opted-in to VetJobs. To REMOVE or CHANGE your address, click this URL: http://mh.databack.com/c.php?L=vetjobs&E=#email#

VetJobs
P. O. Box 71445
Marietta, GA 30007-1445
770-Vet-Jobs (877-838-5627)
770-993-5117 Office
770.993.2875 Fax

Veterans make the best employees!
Freedom Is Never Free – Support Our Armed Forces and Veterans!

VetJobs is an appropriate employment service delivery system for EEOC, VEVRAA/JVA and OFCCP compliance support!

VetJobs is a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business

Today At VetJobs

Ted Daywalt — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:32:14 +0000

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Our First, Most Cherished Liberty – A Statement on Religious Liberty

Ted Daywalt — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 19:04:01 +0000

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty
Our First, Most Cherished Liberty

A Statement on Religious Liberty

We are Catholics. We are Americans. We are proud to be both, grateful for the gift of faith which is ours as Christian disciples, and grateful for the gift of liberty which is ours as American citizens. To be Catholic and American should mean not having to choose one over the other. Our allegiances are distinct, but they need not be contradictory, and should instead be complementary. That is the teaching of our Catholic faith, which obliges us to work together with fellow citizens for the common good of all who live in this land. That is the vision of our founding and our Constitution, which guarantees citizens of all religious faiths the right to contribute to our common life together.

Freedom is not only for Americans, but we think of it as something of our special inheritance, fought for at a great price, and a heritage to be guarded now. We are stewards of this gift, not only for ourselves but for all nations and peoples who yearn to be free. Catholics in America have discharged this duty of guarding freedom admirably for many generations.

In 1887, when the archbishop of Baltimore, James Gibbons, was made the second American cardinal, he defended the American heritage of religious liberty during his visit to Rome to receive the red hat. Speaking of the great progress the Catholic Church had made in the United States, he attributed it to the “civil liberty we enjoy in our enlightened republic.” Indeed, he made a bolder claim, namely that “in the genial atmosphere of liberty [the Church] blossoms like a rose.”1

From well before Cardinal Gibbons, Catholics in America have been advocates for religious liberty, and the landmark teaching of the Second Vatican Council on religious liberty was influenced by the American experience. It is among the proudest boasts of the Church on these shores. We have been staunch defenders of religious liberty in the past. We have a solemn duty to discharge that duty today.

We need, therefore, to speak frankly with each other when our freedoms are threatened. Now is such a time. As Catholic bishops and American citizens, we address an urgent summons to our fellow Catholics and fellow Americans to be on guard, for religious liberty is under attack, both at home and abroad.

This has been noticed both near and far. Pope Benedict XVI recently spoke about his worry that religious liberty in the United States is being weakened. He called it the “most cherished of American freedoms”—and indeed it is. All the more reason to heed the warning of the Holy Father, a friend of America and an ally in the defense of freedom, in his recent address to American bishops:

Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion. Many of you have pointed out that concerted efforts have been made to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices. Others have spoken to me of a worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience.

Here once more we see the need for an engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity endowed with a strong critical sense vis-à-vis the dominant culture and with the courage to counter a reductive secularism which would delegitimize the Church’s participation in public debate about the issues which are determining the future of American society.2

Religious Liberty Under Attack—Concrete Examples

Is our most cherished freedom truly under threat? Sadly, it is. This is not a theological or legal dispute without real world consequences. Consider the following:

• HHS mandate for contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs. The mandate of the Department of Health and Human Services has received wide attention and has been met with our vigorous and united opposition. In an unprecedented way, the federal government will both force religious institutions to facilitate and fund a product contrary to their own moral teaching and purport to define which religious institutions are “religious enough” to merit protection of their religious liberty. These features of the “preventive services” mandate amount to an unjust law. As Archbishop-designate

William Lori of Baltimore, Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, testified to Congress: “This is not a matter of whether contraception may be prohibited by the government. This is not even a matter of whether contraception may be supported by the government. Instead, it is a matter of whether religious people and institutions may be forced by the government to provide coverage for contraception or sterilization, even if that violates their religious beliefs.”3

• State immigration laws. Several states have recently passed laws that forbid what the government deems “harboring” of undocumented immigrants—and what the Church deems Christian charity and pastoral care to those immigrants. Perhaps the most egregious of these is in Alabama, where the Catholic bishops, in cooperation with the Episcopal and Methodist bishops of Alabama, filed suit against the law:

It is with sadness that we brought this legal action but with a deep sense that we, as people of faith, have no choice but to defend the right to the free exercise of religion granted to us as citizens of Alabama. . . . The law makes illegal the exercise of our Christian religion which we, as citizens of Alabama, have a right to follow. The law prohibits almost everything which would assist an undocumented immigrant or encourage an undocumented immigrant to live in Alabama. This new Alabama law makes it illegal for a Catholic priest to baptize, hear the confession of, celebrate the anointing of the sick with, or preach the word of God to, an undocumented immigrant. Nor can we encourage them to attend Mass or give them a ride to Mass. It is illegal to allow them to attend adult scripture study groups, or attend CCD or Sunday school classes. It is illegal for the clergy to counsel them in times of difficulty or in preparation for marriage. It is illegal for them to come to Alcoholic Anonymous meetings or other recovery groups at our churches.4

• Altering Church structure and governance. In 2009, the Judiciary Committee of the Connecticut Legislature proposed a bill that would have forced Catholic parishes to be restructured according to a congregational model, recalling the trusteeism controversy of the early nineteenth century, and prefiguring the federal government’s attempts to redefine for the Church “religious minister” and “religious employer” in the years since.

• Christian students on campus. In its over-100-year history, the University of California Hastings College of Law has denied student organization status to only one group, the Christian Legal Society, because it required its leaders to be Christian and to abstain from sexual activity outside of marriage.

• Catholic foster care and adoption services. Boston, San Francisco, the District of Columbia, and the state of Illinois have driven local Catholic Charities out of the business of providing adoption or foster care services—by revoking their licenses, by ending their government contracts, or both—because those Charities refused to place children with same-sex couples or unmarried opposite-sex couples who cohabit.

• Discrimination against small church congregations. New York City enacted a rule that barred the Bronx Household of Faith and sixty other churches from renting public schools on weekends for worship services even though non-religious groups could rent the same schools for scores of other uses. While this would not frequently affect Catholic parishes, which generally own their own buildings, it would be devastating to many smaller congregations. It is a simple case of discrimination against religious believers.

• Discrimination against Catholic humanitarian services. Notwithstanding years of excellent performance by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services in administering contract services for victims of human trafficking, the federal government changed its contract specifications to require us to provide or refer for contraceptive and abortion services in violation of Catholic teaching. Religious institutions should not be disqualified from a government contract based on religious belief, and they do not somehow lose their religious identity or liberty upon entering such contracts. And yet a federal court in Massachusetts, turning religious liberty on its head, has since declared that such a disqualification is required by the First Amendment—that the government somehow violates religious liberty by allowing Catholic organizations to participate in contracts in a manner consistent with their beliefs on contraception and abortion.
Religious Liberty Is More Than Freedom of Worship

Religious liberty is not only about our ability to go to Mass on Sunday or pray the Rosary at home. It is about whether we can make our contribution to the common good of all Americans. Can we do the good works our faith calls us to do, without having to compromise that very same faith? Without religious liberty properly understood, all Americans suffer, deprived of the essential contribution in education, health care, feeding the hungry, civil rights, and social services that religious Americans make every day, both here at home and overseas.

What is at stake is whether America will continue to have a free, creative, and robust civil society—or whether the state alone will determine who gets to contribute to the common good, and how they get to do it. Religious believers are part of American civil society, which includes neighbors helping each other, community associations, fraternal service clubs, sports leagues, and youth groups. All these Americans make their contribution to our common life, and they do not need the permission of the government to do so. Restrictions on religious liberty are an attack on civil society and the American genius for voluntary associations.

The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America issued a statement about the administration’s contraception and sterilization mandate that captured exactly the danger that we face:

Most troubling, is the Administration’s underlying rationale for its decision, which appears to be a view that if a religious entity is not insular, but engaged with broader society, it loses its “religious” character and liberties. Many faiths firmly believe in being open to and engaged with broader society and fellow citizens of other faiths. The Administration’s ruling makes the price of such an outward approach the violation of an organization’s religious principles. This is deeply disappointing.5 This is not a Catholic issue. This is not a Jewish issue. This is not an Orthodox, Mormon, or Muslim issue. It is an American issue.

The Most Cherished of American Freedoms

In 1634, a mix of Catholic and Protestant settlers arrived at St. Clement’s Island in Southern Maryland from England aboard the Ark and the Dove. They had come at the invitation of the Catholic Lord Baltimore, who had been granted Maryland by the Protestant King Charles I of England. While Catholics and Protestants were killing each other in Europe, Lord Baltimore imagined Maryland as a society where people of different faiths could live together peacefully. This vision was soon codified in Maryland’s 1649 Act Concerning Religion (also called the “Toleration Act”), which was the first law in our nation’s history to protect an individual’s right to freedom of conscience.

Maryland’s early history teaches us that, like any freedom, religious liberty requires constant vigilance and protection, or it will disappear. Maryland’s experiment in religious toleration ended within a few decades. The colony was placed under royal control, and the Church of England became the established religion. Discriminatory laws, including the loss of political rights, were enacted against those who refused to conform. Catholic chapels were closed, and Catholics were restricted to practicing their faith in their homes. The Catholic community lived under these conditions until the American Revolution.

By the end of the 18th century, our nation’s founders embraced freedom of religion as an essential condition of a free and democratic society. James Madison, often called the Father of the Constitution, described conscience as “the most sacred of all property.” 6

He wrote that “the Religion then of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man; and it is the right of every man to exercise it as these may dictate.”7 George Washington wrote that “the establishment of Civil and Religious Liberty was the Motive that induced me to the field of battle.”8 Thomas Jefferson assured the Ursuline Sisters—who had been serving a mostly non-Catholic population by running a hospital, an orphanage, and schools in Louisiana since 1727—that the principles of the Constitution were a “sure guarantee” that their ministry would be free “to govern itself according to its own voluntary rules, without interference from the civil authority.”9

It is therefore fitting that when the Bill of Rights was ratified, religious freedom had the distinction of being the First Amendment. Religious liberty is indeed the first liberty. The First Amendment guarantees that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

Recently, in a unanimous Supreme Court judgment affirming the importance of that first freedom, the Chief Justice of the United States explained that religious liberty is not just the first freedom for Americans; rather it is the first in the history of democratic freedom, tracing its origins back the first clauses of the Magna Carta of 1215 and beyond. In a telling example, Chief Justice Roberts illustrated our history of religious liberty in light of a Catholic issue decided upon by James Madison, who guided the Bill of Rights through Congress and is known as the architect of the First Amendment:

[In 1806] John Carroll, the first Catholic bishop in the United States, solicited the Executive’s opinion on who should be appointed to direct the affairs of the Catholic Church in the territory newly acquired by the Louisiana Purchase. After consulting with President Jefferson, then-Secretary of State James Madison responded that the selection of church “functionaries” was an “entirely ecclesiastical” matter left to the Church’s own judgment. The “scrupulous policy of the Constitution in guarding against a political interference with religious affairs,” Madison explained, prevented the Government from rendering an opinion on the “selection of ecclesiastical individuals.”10

That is our American heritage, our most cherished freedom. It is the first freedom because if we are not free in our conscience and our practice of religion, all other freedoms are fragile. If citizens are not free in their own consciences, how can they be free in relation to others, or to the state? If our obligations and duties to God are impeded, or even worse, contradicted by the government, then we can no longer claim to be a land of the free, and a beacon of hope for the world.

Our Christian Teaching

During the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, Americans shone the light of the Gospel on a dark history of slavery, segregation, and racial bigotry. The civil rights movement was an essentially religious movement, a call to awaken consciences, not only an appeal to the Constitution for America to honor its heritage of liberty.

In his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in 1963, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. boldly said, “The goal of America is freedom.” As a Christian pastor, he argued that to call America to the full measure of that freedom was the specific contribution Christians are obliged to make. He rooted his legal and constitutional arguments about justice in the long Christian tradition:
I would agree with Saint Augustine that “An unjust law is no law at all.” Now what is the difference between the two? How does one determine when a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of Saint Thomas Aquinas, an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law.11

It is a sobering thing to contemplate our government enacting an unjust law. An unjust law cannot be obeyed. In the face of an unjust law, an accommodation is not to be sought, especially by resorting to equivocal words and deceptive practices. If we face today the prospect of unjust laws, then Catholics in America, in solidarity with our fellow citizens, must have the courage not to obey them. No American desires this. No Catholic welcomes it. But if it should fall upon us, we must discharge it as a duty of citizenship and an obligation of faith.

It is essential to understand the distinction between conscientious objection and an unjust law. Conscientious objection permits some relief to those who object to a just law for reasons of conscience—conscription being the most well-known example. An unjust law is “no law at all.” It cannot be obeyed, and therefore one does not seek relief from it, but rather its repeal.

The Christian church does not ask for special treatment, simply the rights of religious freedom for all citizens. Rev. King also explained that the church is neither the master nor the servant of the state, but its conscience, guide, and critic.
As Catholics, we know that our history has shadows too in terms of religious liberty, when we did not extend to others the proper respect for this first freedom. But the teaching of the Church is absolutely clear about religious liberty:
The human person has a right to religious freedom. This freedom means that all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that in matters religious no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs … whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, within due limits. . . . This right of the human person to religious freedom is to be recognized in the constitutional law whereby society is governed. Thus it is to become a civil right.12

As Catholics, we are obliged to defend the right to religious liberty for ourselves and for others. We are happily joined in this by our fellow Christians and believers of other faiths.

A recent letter to President Obama from some sixty religious leaders, including Christians of many denominations and Jews, argued that “it is emphatically not only Catholics who deeply object to the requirement that health plans they purchase must provide coverage of contraceptives that include some that are abortifacients.”13

More comprehensively, a theologically rich and politically prudent declaration from Evangelicals and Catholics Together made a powerful case for greater vigilance in defense of religious freedom, precisely as a united witness animated by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.14 Their declaration makes it clear that as Christians of various traditions we object to a “naked public square,” stripped of religious arguments and religious believers. We do not seek a “sacred public square” either, which gives special privileges and benefits to religious citizens. Rather, we seek a civil public square, where all citizens can make their contribution to the common good. At our best, we might call this an American public square.

The Lord Jesus came to liberate us from the dominion of sin. Political liberties are one part of that liberation, and religious liberty is the first of those liberties. Together with our fellow Christians, joined by our Jewish brethren, and in partnership with Americans of other religious

Martyrs Around the World

In this statement, as bishops of the United States, we are addressing ourselves to the situation we find here at home. At the same time, we are sadly aware that religious liberty in many other parts of the world is in much greater peril. Our obligation at home is to defend religious liberty robustly, but we cannot overlook the much graver plight that religious believers, most of them Christian, face around the world. The age of martyrdom has not passed. Assassinations, bombings of churches, torching of orphanages—these are only the most violent attacks Christians have suffered because of their faith in Jesus Christ. More systematic denials of basic human rights are found in the laws of several countries, and also in acts of persecution by adherents of other faiths.

If religious liberty is eroded here at home, American defense of religious liberty abroad is less credible. And one common threat, spanning both the international and domestic arenas, is the tendency to reduce the freedom of religion to the mere freedom of worship. Therefore, it is our task to strengthen religious liberty at home, in this and other respects, so that we might defend it more vigorously abroad. To that end, American foreign policy, as well as the vast international network of Catholic agencies, should make the promotion of religious liberty an ongoing and urgent priority.
“All the Energies the Catholic Community Can Muster”

What we ask is nothing more than that our God-given right to religious liberty be respected. We ask nothing less than that the Constitution and laws of the United States, which recognize that right, be respected.
In insisting that our liberties as Americans be respected, we know as bishops that what our Holy Father said is true. This work belongs to “an engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity endowed with a strong critical sense vis-à-vis the dominant culture.”

As bishops we seek to bring the light of the Gospel to our public life, but the work of politics is properly that of committed and courageous lay Catholics. We exhort them to be both engaged and articulate in insisting that as Catholics and as Americans we do not have to choose between the two. There is an urgent need for the lay faithful, in cooperation with Christians, Jews, and others, to impress upon our elected representatives the importance of continued protection of religious liberty in a free society.

We address a particular word to those holding public office. It is your noble task to govern for the common good. It does not serve the common good to treat the good works of religious believers as a threat to our common life; to the contrary, they are essential to its proper functioning. It is also your task to protect and defend those fundamental liberties guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. This ought not to be a partisan issue. The Constitution is not for Democrats or Republicans or Independents. It is for all of us, and a great nonpartisan effort should be led by our elected representatives to ensure that it remains so.
We recognize that a special responsibility belongs to those Catholics who are responsible for our impressive array of hospitals, clinics, universities, colleges, schools, adoption agencies, overseas development projects, and social service agencies that provide assistance to the poor, the hungry, immigrants, and those faced with crisis pregnancies. You do the work that the Gospel mandates that we do. It is you who may be forced to choose between the good works we do by faith, and fidelity to that faith itself. We encourage you to hold firm, to stand fast, and to insist upon what belongs to you by right as Catholics and Americans. Our country deserves the best we have to offer, including our resistance to violations of our first freedom.

To our priests, especially those who have responsibility for parishes, university chaplaincies, and high schools, we ask for a catechesis on religious liberty suited to the souls in your care. As bishops we can provide guidance to assist you, but the courage and zeal for this task cannot be obtained from another—it must be rooted in your own concern for your flock and nourished by the graces you received at your ordination.

Catechesis on religious liberty is not the work of priests alone. The Catholic Church in America is blessed with an immense number of writers, producers, artists, publishers, filmmakers, and bloggers employing all the means of communications—both old and new media—to expound and teach the faith. They too have a critical role in this great struggle for religious liberty. We call upon them to use their skills and talents in defense of our first freedom.

Finally to our brother bishops, let us exhort each other with fraternal charity to be bold, clear, and insistent in warning against threats to the rights of our people. Let us attempt to be the “conscience of the state,” to use Rev. King’s words. In the aftermath of the decision on contraceptive and sterilization mandates, many spoke out forcefully. As one example, the words of one of our most senior brothers, Cardinal Roger Mahony, thirty-five years a bishop and recently retired after twenty-five years as archbishop of Los Angeles, provide a model for us here: “I cannot imagine a more direct and frontal attack on freedom of conscience than this ruling today. This decision must be fought against with all the energies the Catholic community can muster.”15

A Fortnight for Freedom

In particular, we recommend to our brother bishops that we focus “all the energies the Catholic community can muster” in a special way this coming summer. As pastors of the flock, our privileged task is to lead the Christian faithful in prayer.
Both our civil year and liturgical year point us on various occasions to our heritage of freedom. This year, we propose a special “fortnight for freedom,” in which bishops in their own dioceses might arrange special events to highlight the importance of defending our first freedom. Our Catholic institutions also could be encouraged to do the same, especially in cooperation with other Christians, Jews, people of other faiths, and indeed, all who wish to defend our most cherished freedom.

We suggest that the fourteen days from June 21—the vigil of the Feasts of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More—to July 4, Independence Day, be dedicated to this “fortnight for freedom”—a great hymn of prayer for our country. Our liturgical calendar celebrates a series of great martyrs who remained faithful in the face of persecution by political power—St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More, St. John the Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, and the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome. Culminating on Independence Day, this special period of prayer, study, catechesis, and public action would emphasize both our Christian and American heritage of liberty. Dioceses and parishes around the country could choose a date in that period for special events that would constitute a great national campaign of teaching and witness for religious liberty.

In addition to this summer’s observance, we also urge that the Solemnity of Christ the King—a feast born out of resistance to totalitarian incursions against religious liberty—be a day specifically employed by bishops and priests to preach about religious liberty, both here and abroad.

To all our fellow Catholics, we urge an intensification of your prayers and fasting for a new birth of freedom in our beloved country. We invite you to join us in an urgent prayer for religious liberty.

Almighty God, Father of all nations,
For freedom you have set us free in Christ Jesus (Gal 5:1).
We praise and bless you for the gift of religious liberty,
the foundation of human rights, justice, and the common good.
Grant to our leaders the wisdom to protect and promote our liberties;
By your grace may we have the courage to defend them, for ourselves and for all those who live in this blessed land.
We ask this through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, our patroness,
and in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
with whom you live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Footnotes:
1. Cardinal James Gibbons, Address upon taking possession of Santa Maria in Trastevere, March 25, 1887.

2. Benedict XVI, Ad limina address to bishops of the United States, January 19, 2012.

3. Most Rev. William E. Lori, Chairman, USCCB Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty, Oral Testimony Before the Judiciary Committee of the United States House of Representatives, February 28, 2012.

4. Most Rev. Thomas J. Rodi, Archbishop of Mobile, August 1, 2011.

5. Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, Statement, January 24, 2012.

6. James Madison, “Property,” March 29, 1792, in The Founding Fathers, eds. Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1987), accessed March 27, 2012. http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch16s23.html.

7. James Madison, “Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessment,” June 20, 1785, in The Founding Fathers, accessed March 27, 2012. http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/amendI_religions43.html.

8. Michael Novak and Jana Novak, Washington’s God, 2006.

9. Anson Phelps Stokes, Church and State in the United States (Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1950), 678.

10. Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, 565 U.S. ___, 132 S. Ct. 694, 703 (2012).

11. Martin Luther King Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” April 16, 1963.

12. Second Vatican Council, Declaration on Religious Liberty (Dignitatis Humanae), no. 2, in The Documents of Vatican II, ed. Walter M. Abbott (New York: Guild Press, 1966).

13. Letter from Leith Anderson et al. to President Obama, December 21, 2011 (available at www.becketfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/To-President-NonCatholics-RelExemptionSigned.pdf).

14. Evangelicals and Catholics Together, “In Defense of Religious Freedom,” First Things, March 2012.
traditions, we affirm that our faith requires us to defend the religious liberty granted us by God, and protected in our Constitution.

15. Cardinal Roger Mahony, “Federal Government Mandate for Contraceptive/Sterilization Coverage,” Cardinal Roger Mahony Blogs L.A. (blog), January 20, 2012, cardinalrogermahonyblogsla.blogspot.com/2012/01/federal-government-mandate-for.html.

Excerpt from Pope Benedict XVI, Ad limina address to bishops of the United States, January 19, 2012, copyright © 2012, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Vatican City. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2012, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, DC. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright holder.

The document Our First, Most Cherished Liberty: A Statement on Religious Liberty, was developed by the Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). It was approved by the Administrative Committee of the USCCB at its March 2012 meeting as a statement of the Committee and has been authorized for publication by the undersigned.
Msgr. Ronny E. Jenkins, JCD General Secretary, USCCB

Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty
Chairman
Most Rev. William E. Lori, Archbishop-designate of Baltimore

Bishop Members
Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap, Archbishop of Philadelphia Most Rev. Wilton D. Gregory, Archbishop of Atlanta Most Rev. John C. Nienstedt, Archbishop of St. Paul–Minneapolis Most Rev. Thomas J. Rodi, Archbishop of Mobile Most Rev. J. Peter Sartain, Archbishop of Seattle
Most Rev. John O. Barres, Bishop of Allentown Most Rev. Daniel E. Flores, Bishop of Brownsville Most Rev. Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of Phoenix Most Rev. Thomas J. Paprocki, Bishop of Springfield, IL

Bishop Consultants
Most Rev. José H. Gomez, Archbishop of Los Angeles Most Rev. Stephen E. Blaire, Bishop of Stockton Most Rev. Joseph P. McFadden, Bishop of Harrisburg Most Rev. Richard E. Pates, Bishop of Des Moines Most Rev. Kevin C. Rhoades, Bishop of Fort Wayne–South Bend

Over 65 Percent Of Companies Won’t Hire Active Members Of The National Guard And Reserve

Ted Daywalt — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 01:16:32 +0000

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ted-daywalt/65-percent-of-companies-w_b_1418721.html

Posted: 04/12/2012 8:52 am

While much has been written about transitioning military finding jobs, not much attention has been given to the employment struggles military families face. There are two aspects to consider when looking at this problem, the issues faced by active duty military families and the issues faced by families of National Guard and Reserve (NG&R) families.

The military benefit system gives active duty soldiers extra combat pay, provides housing allowances and exempts them from certain taxes, but financial experts say active duty military families are straining under multiple deployments, frequent relocations and the difficulty spouses have in getting — and keeping jobs — in new cities.

Trying to support a family is tough in today’s uncertain economic environment for both civilian and military families. To make ends meet, both adult members of the military family frequently have to work. Active duty military families have a tougher time than their civilian counterparts in finding work, as military families have to move frequently, thus causing the spouse to have to find a new job on a regular basis. Since the United States is still in an economic malaise, it is even more difficult to secure employment. The unemployment rate among military spouses is about 26 percent, according to a report from Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

One of the problems of having to change jobs regularly is the military spouse may not be getting career type jobs, but rather, low-wage jobs to help make ends meet. Additionally, some employers are concerned about hiring a military spouse since the employer knows the military spouse will be transferred and thus not be able to serve as a long term employee. This frequently relegates spouses to accepting low wage jobs in fast food or retail.

A 2010 military survey found that 27 percent of service members said they had more than $10,000 in credit card debt compared with 16 percent of civilians who carry such debt. The study also found more than one third of military families have trouble paying monthly bills, and more than 20 percent reported borrowing money outside of banks.

These debts frequently necessitate active duty members to pick up a part-time job to augment the family income.

National Guard & Reserve Active Duty Family Employment Struggles

For the last 10 years, the NG&R has faced increased call-ups and multiple deployments. However, unlike their active duty counterparts, when a member of the NG&R comes back from a deployment, his income stops and he is considered “part-time” military. The active duty military person does not have to worry about cash flow when he returns from a deployment because — by virtue of being on active duty — he is paid twice a month. Not so for the NG&R component member. The NG&R member must look for work immediately upon returning if he wants to support his family.

Since NG&R members do not have to transfer regularly like the active duty member, their spouses can often obtain better jobs, but that is dependent on education, skills and location in the United States.

Due to the frequent call-ups by the NG&R over the last 10 years, studies from the Society of Human Resource Management and from Workforce Management indicate that over 65 percent of companies will not now hire an active member of the NG&R as a new employee. This makes it difficult for NG&R personnel to find a job upon returning. It also explains why many deployed NG brigades have had unemployment rates ranging from 30 percent to 68 percent!

There is no simple solution to this issue, but employers need to understand the unique problems faced by members of the active duty military and the NG&R and hire them. As a country we owe our military a job since they are the ones who put their lives on the line to defend our freedoms and protect our free-market economy.

CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU TO HOLD FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND THEIR SERVICE PROVIDERS ACCOUNTABLE

Ted Daywalt — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 18:28:59 +0000

Banks and Nonbanks Must Responsibly Manage Their Service Provider Relationships

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today released a bulletin clarifying that financial institutions under Bureau supervision may be held responsible for the actions of the companies with which they contract. The Bureau will take a close look at service providers’ interactions with consumers. It will hold all appropriate companies accountable when legal violations occur.

“Consumers are at a real disadvantage because they do not get to choose the service providers they deal with—the financial institution does,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “Consumers must not be hurt by unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices of service providers. Banks and nonbanks must manage these relationships carefully and can be held accountable if they break the law.”

Banks and nonbanks contract with service providers for a number of reasons. They may use service providers to develop and market additional products or services or to provide expertise. Banks and nonbanks may also contract with outside vendors for services they may not have the resources to conduct independently, such as telemarketing or call center services.

Using outside vendors can pose additional risks. A service provider that is unfamiliar with consumer financial protection laws or has weak internal controls can harm consumers. The CFPB wants to ensure that consumers are protected from irresponsible service providers and that banks and nonbanks are contracting with honest third parties.

Today’s bulletin states the Bureau’s expectation that supervised financial institutions have an effective process for managing the risks of service provider relationships. The CFPB recommends that supervised financial institutions take steps to ensure that business arrangements with service providers do not present unwarranted risks to consumers. These steps include:

• Conducting thorough due diligence to verify that the service provider understands and is capable of complying with the law;
• Requesting and reviewing the service provider’s policies, procedures, internal controls, and training materials to ensure that the service provider conducts appropriate training and oversight of employees or agents that have consumer contact or compliance responsibilities;
• Including in the contract with the service provider clear expectations about compliance, as well as appropriate and enforceable consequences for violating any compliance-related responsibilities;
• Establishing internal controls and on-going monitoring to determine whether the service provider is complying with the law; and
• Taking prompt action to address fully any problems identified through the monitoring process.

The Bulletin is available here: http://www.consumerfinance.gov/f/20120212_cfpb_ServiceProvidersBulletin.pdf

Veteran Employment Situation Report – March 2012

Ted Daywalt — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 03:26:22 +0000

Welcome to the new VetJobs Veteran Employment Situation Report! Many of those on this list have called into VetJobs on the Friday’s when the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) release their unemployment report. As VetJobs was receiving so many calls, we decided to formalize our information into a monthly report. Please feel free to share the VetJobs Veteran Employment Situation Report with others. Should they want to sign up for the report, they can send an email request to contact@vetjobs.com.

This report will be in two parts. The first will summarize the Bureau of Labor Statistics report on the labor market and the second half covers the unemployment situation in the veteran market.

BLS Unemployment Summary

The unemployment rate was 8.2% in March, down from February’s 8.3%. This decline was the result the Department of Labor’s (DOL) estimation of the shrinking size of the labor force. The number of employed and unemployed are both lower in March which indicates the economic recovery is definitely slowing down.

The total number of new jobs for March was an increase of 120,000. This is smaller than February’s increase of 240,000 and less than half of January’s gain of 275,000 new jobs.

The drop in the CES unemployment rate was due to the BLS birth/death model decreasing the size of the labor force. Several economists have issues with BLS’s methodology claiming it is unable to account for new business formation, which tend to be smaller in size and not fully captured by BLS estimates, which means many new jobs are not being counted. New business start-ups tend to be more prevalent during the early stages of a recovery, which the economy is currently in by most accounts. Thus, economists like Jeff Thredgold maintain the BLS methodology tends to underestimate job growth at this point in the economic cycle. Private economists had estimated the March job growth is 225,000 new jobs, which is more in line with previous published data.

The March 8.2% unemployment rate was incrementally lower due to a labor force that contracted by 164,000 at the same time 31,000 fewer people were employed but there were 133,000 fewer unemployed persons. And the number of people not in the labor force grew by 333,000. The last time the unemployment was down to this level was in early 2009.

The employment-to-population ratio was 58.5 in March, creeping down from the 58.6 in February but at the same level it was a year earlier. The labor force participation rate was 63.8% in March 2012 compared to 64.2% in March 2011. In addition, the number of discouraged workers was 865,000 in March 2012 which is lower than the 921,000 in March 2011.

Where the New Jobs Were Created

BLS reports the number of jobs in the private goods-producing sector grew by 31,000 in March, which was in line with February growth of 29,000 but well below January’s gain of 78,000. This was due to the construction sector’s continuing trend to lose jobs by 7,000 in March, which was about the same as February’s decline of 6,000. The decline of the past two months has still not totally given back January’s gain of 18,000.

Manufacturers added 37,000 jobs in March, a 6,000 increase from the 31,000 added in February and 52,000 in January. In the last two years, manufacturers have added jobs at a faster rate than the rest of the employment economy. Since March 2010, the number of manufacturing jobs has grown 4.0% while the number of overall jobs is up 3.7%.

Mining and logging continued to add jobs, but at a slower rate with only 1,000 new jobs in March. Oil and gas extraction added 3,100 jobs.

The private service-providing sector added 90,000 new jobs in March, which is significantly lower than the 204,000 it added in February and 199,000 it added in January. This again confirms that the recovery is slowing down. Retail trade continued downwards with a decline of 33,800 jobs in March on top of a 28,600 jobs decline in February. Wholesale trade grew by 4,100 jobs in March which is less than the 6,900 increase in February. Transportation and warehousing sector performed similarly with only 2,800 new jobs in March compared to 14,400 in February.

The total number of Government jobs was down last month by 1,000. In March, the Federal government was flat. State government added 2,000, and Local government eliminated 3,000 jobs, most of those cuts in education.
Of great concern is the Temporary help services jobs were down 7,500 in March. An increase in temporary jobs generally is taken as a sign of recovery. A decrease in this sector coupled with the anemic overall job growth is not good.

VETERAN UNEMPLOYMENT REPORT

The BLS CPS reports there were 21,286,000 veterans alive in March, down from 21,315,000 in February. Of these, there were 11,161,000 veterans in the workforce in March, up from the 11,101,000 in the workforce in February.

The CPS overall veteran unemployment rate for March is 7.5%, up from the February rate of 7.0%. There were 834,000 unemployed veterans in March, up from the 777,000 unemployed veterans in February.

The fact that the veteran overall unemployment rate is lower than the national unemployment rate indicates that veterans as a class are having better success finding employment than non-veterans.

However, the unemployment rate for the 18 to 24 year old veterans rose in March to 17.8% (40,000 unemployed) from February’s 12.4% (77,000 unemployed). The gross number of unemployed 18 to 24 year olds went down, but the percentage went up.

The overall unemployment rate for all (veteran & nonveteran) 18 to 24 year olds was 14.8% with a total of 2,801,000 unemployed.

This concludes the VetJobs unemployment analysis for March. If you have any questions, please contact Ted Daywalt at tdaywalt@vetjobs.com or call 877-838-5627 (877-Vet-Jobs).