Corporate jobs initiative meets 100,000 vet hiring goal

A coalition of companies that vowed in 2011 to hired 100,000 veterans within a decade has made its goal seven years early, announcing today that 117,439 former service members have since been provided jobs.

The group, calling itself the 100,000 Jobs Mission, has now promised to double its target to 200,000 veterans job by 2020, according to the announcement.

"We have been able to make a difference in the lives of so many of our nation's veterans, and those veterans bring tremendous skills and experience to the workplace," says Maureen Casey, director of military and veterans affairs at JPMorgan Chase, one of initial 11 companies to form the coalition. It has since grown to 131 companies.

Veterans particularly of the Iraq- and Afghanistan-war eras struggle to find work. While unemployment rates among all veterans have been tracking lower that the overall jobless percentage, younger veterans have remained mainly about 10% unemployment.

In addition to being part of the jobs initiative, JPMorgan says it will invest $1 million in higher education efforts for veterans, including grants to Florida State College at Jacksonville, University of South Florida, The University of Texas at Arlington and San Diego State University.