Retail giant Walmart said it has hired almost 600 veterans in Connecticut since launching its Veterans Welcome Home Commitment in May 2013, despite overall vet unemployment numbers being low.
Walmart announced it has hired 130,828 veterans nationally since it announced its Veterans Welcome Home Commitment, including 595 in Connecticut. Of those 130,828 veteran hires, 15,176 have been promoted to jobs with higher pay and greater responsibility, including 59 in the state.
On Memorial Day 2013, Walmart introduced the Veterans Welcome Home Commitment, which guaranteed a job offer to any eligible, honorably discharged U.S. veteran who was within 12 months of active duty. The initial goal was to hire 100,000 veterans by the end of 2018.
In May 2015, Walmart announced the expansion of that original projection, with the goal of hiring 250,000 veterans by the end of 2020. Walmart has also changed the eligibility from within 12 months of active duty, to any veteran who has been honorably discharged since the announcement of the commitment in May 2013.
Despite unemployment among veterans being at its lowest in eight years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, veterans from the Gulf War era continue to be under- or unemployed.
