Top companies like Coca-Cola, Tyson Foods, and Unilever (owner of brands like Lipton and Vaseline) have agreed to hire 25,000 veterans and their spouses within the next two years as part of an Obama administration proposal, according to AFP.
Military veterans have the highest unemployment rate in the country at 9.1 percent. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that rate is even higher for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - at 11.7 percent.
The proposal is one piece of the president's jobs bill that failed get traction in Congress, and thus broken into smaller bills that have a better chance of getting passed. The president, along with First Lady Michelle Obama, announced the proposal today at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia. The first lady explained why top companies agreed to hire 25,000 veterans if the jobs bill is passed:
A total of 270 companies have agreed to participate in the president's American Jobs Act proposal.
