Managing The Re-Employment Of Military Veterans Through The Transition Assistance Program (TAP)

Abstract

With the drawdown of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and a $1.05 trillion dollar cut in the Department of Defense budget over the next ten years, tens of thousands of veterans are flooding the job market at a time when millions of civilians cannot find employment. To fight this high number of unemployed veterans Congress passed the Veterans Employment Bill of President Obama’s Jobs Bill in November 2011. This paper discusses the government sponsored military veteran Transition Assistance Program’s (TAP) effectiveness in reducing the veteran unemployment rate and presents the results of a survey of 350 Army personnel’s perceptions of the utility of the services offered through the TAP.