The unemployment rate among Florida’s 1.5 million veterans is around 5 percent. That’s lower than the rate among all Floridians.
Still, the state’s top economic development officer says Florida can do better by its veterans.
Florida Department of Economic Opportunity Executive Director Jesse Panuccio says most employers want to hire veterans but don’t, many times because of the disconnect between military and civilian job descriptions.
“The most important thing we can do, really, is when veterans come home, bridge that divide and help them build resumes that make sense to a civilian employer, maybe translate some of those military skills into civilian language so that employers can understand," he says.
Panuccio says Paychecks for Patriots job fairs held around the state this week have been quite successful.
Last year, he says, half the veterans who showed up got hired.
