Uber, the San Francisco-based ridesharing company, last week doubled down on its effort to hire veterans by offering a series of bonuses for veteran referrals, extending its car-hailing service to military bases, and offering up cash donations to organizations that support veterans’ causes.
The announcement came a week after the government reported that the unemployment rate for veterans jumped to 6.5 percent in March, more than a point and a half higher than the February figure.
Though unemployment data for veterans in Los Angeles aren’t readily broken out, both the city and county have made a push to encourage hiring from this pool of workers. The mayor last year set a goal of seeing 10,000 vets hired and claimed to be at the halfway mark by year’s end. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors likewise approved a measure in November encouraging businesses to hire veterans.
Yet for all the efforts to tap this pool of highly skilled, disciplined, and able workers, not all is so dire – even with last month’s spike, the March rate is the lowest ever recorded for the month.
Indeed, it has largely been that way. The state’s Economic Development Department reported way back in 2011 that the prior year’s unemployment rate among veterans was nearly two and a half points lower than the rate for nonvets.
So what to make of the hiring push?
First of all, it’s good policy, whether it comes from government or the private sector. Set aside for a moment the cost – psychic and otherwise – of being deployed overseas. There are 1.4 million people serving in the military and an additional 800,000 in the reserves, most taking on tasks the other 315 million of us would rather not do. Making an effort to tap into that experience is the least businesses ought to do.
Secondly, and with no cynicism intended, its good PR. Why would anyone argue with Uber’s initiative? And so what if they pat themselves on the back for it?
What’s telling about the unemployment rate among veterans is what it says about the labor market in general.
A study from Rand Corp. a couple of years ago noted that one reason veterans, especially the younger ones, might be caught up in the ranks of the unemployed is that, having recently left one job, they are simply in the midst of a search that for many people takes time – especially in times of slower economic growth.
That’s likely true for the millions of college graduates we mint each year who struggle to land in their career of choice.
What to do? Again, whether it is government living up to its obligations to our military personnel or educational institutions charged with readying young people for the workforce, preparation is key.
One focus, recommended by Rand and in a 2014 report from USC, is better preparation on the part of the government for its personnel that are transitioning out of the armed services.
Having employers such as Uber waiting with open arms is in many ways the easiest part of the equation. Perhaps its efforts – and those of like-minded enterprises – will spur the government to do as well in outplacement as it does in training folks for service.
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This is generally the time for folks to wax poetic over the return of baseball.
I hear the Dodgers are playing again. I only hear it, as their games – still – are not broadcast to most of the TV households in their home market.
The carriage dispute over SportsNet LA, the channel co-owned by the Dodgers, between Time Warner Cable and other outlets rages on. But that’s been chewed over enough and no stern words urging accommodation will drive the sides to a deal.
Rather, it’s better to wax poetic over the return of the game to the radio. The games smooth the evening drive home from work, especially the long periods when the announcers hold their tongues and let the sounds of the faraway (or Chavez Ravine) crowds hiss through car speakers.
It’s a soothing sound, one that brings back childhood summers and – especially here – takes the edge off traffic.
Jonathan Diamond is editor of the Business Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].
