Statement by Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel on Joining Forces Veterans’ Hiring Initiative
April 30, 2013

I applaud the first lady and Dr. Biden’s leadership in challenging U.S. businesses to employ America’s veterans and military spouses. Their announcement today that businesses have hired or trained 290,000 veterans and military spouses over the past 20 months – nearly tripling the goal – demonstrates that American companies can benefit greatly from the highly-skilled and hard-working members of our military family.

I welcome the commitment of businesses to hire or train an additional 435,000 individuals over the next five years, and am committed to ensuring that our service members transitioning to civilian life and our military spouses have the support they richly deserve when it comes to finding a job, pursuing an education, or starting a business.