The U.S. military and businesses have taken significant steps in recent years to drastically reduce the veteran unemployment rate that peaked at 12 percent in 2011.

A new military program allows service members to earn civilian certifications to qualify for vale-added jobs, said Brendan McGarry, managing editor of Military.com, a website dedicated to military and veteran news and services

“Troops are being trained already in service, so the military is spending a lot of money to get troops spun up in any number of fields,” McGarry said. Veteran service associations, the military, and lawmakers are discussing adding civilian certificates or programs as part of the military training, McGarry told What’s Working in Washington.

The initiative will allow veterans already trained in certain fields to access targeted jobs without completing outside civilian training and certification programs, which cost time and money.

The veteran demographic is “a very attractive demographic to employers,” McGarry said, because they have experiences that translates well into work in the private sector.

Referencing a recent Department of Labor study on February’s employment rates, McGarry said “the veteran unemployment rate is actually hitting record lows. It was 3.9 percent in February, that’s actually lower than the non-veteran rate.”

“Several years ago, 2011, we had peak unemployment of veterans. It was upwards of 11, [or] 12 percent,” McGarry said. He credits the sharp decline in unemployment to employer recognition, as well as relatively recent tax credits passed by Congress.

“I think that employers do see the value in having vets enter these positions, and when they do, there’s plenty they bring to the table,” he said.

Military service prepares veterans to be strong employees for a lot of reasons, he said. “One of the more obvious ones is leadership. I would say specialty training, and/or leadership,” McGarry said. After even a short time in uniform, soldiers typically earn promotions, leading them to manage a number of people and responsibilities.

Employing veterans is important because of a gap forming between civilians and veterans, McGarry said.

“The voluntary component of military service is something that’s creating this gulf, and it will perpetuate that gulf. The reality is: less than one percent of the population does serve, and that’s going to continue” to shrink, McGarry said.

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