Veteran Unemployment: Should the Department of Veterans Affairs provide more support - Term Paper Example

The U.S. Government has taken large steps in recent years to aid veterans in employment, schooling, home purchases, and free healthcare. “The VA 2014 Budget request for 2014 is $152.7 billion.  This includes $66.5 billion in discretionary resources and $86.1 billion in mandatory funding.  Our discretionary budget request represents an increase of $2.7 billion, or 4.3 percent, over the 2013 enacted level” ("Annual Budget Submission"). With all of this money requested and soon to be available why do we still have high unemployment rates among veterans?

The purpose of this project is to determine if the veteran unemployment rates are due to lack of support from the Department of Veteran Affairs. The model (less constants and coefficients is): VET UNEMPLOY RTS = GDP + VA SUPPORT + NATIONAL UNEMPLOY RTS - VET POPULATION / 100. This study employs a time-series analysis with observations from 1980 to 2010 included. Demographic data on populations of veterans was taken from the U.S. Census Bureau and unemployment information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The dependent variable is the veteran unemployment rate, it is determined by the independent variables of gross domestic product, support from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), total population of veterans, and the national unemployment rates. The most important independent variable in this relationship is the total amount of veterans because it gives us the baseline information to judge if there is a change in unemployment rates during the given time periods. The limitations of this data are compounding numbers from each year because more military members separate from active duty each year so individuals could be counted twice based on year to year data.

The result or dependent variable, VET UNEMPLOYMENT RATES, is calculated by adding the gross domestic product (GDP), VA support, the national unemployment ratesand subtracting the population of veterans. This variable is important because displays that the Department of Veteran Affairs is proactively ensuring veterans are prepared for the civilian workforce. Veteran Population is the total amount of veterans as documented by the U.S. Census Bureau. These individuals are military member that have recently separated from active duty military service, or retired from reserves or guard.

These individuals served in the military prior to 2013. This is the most important independent variable because it allows you to see where how many veterans we have attempting to join the civilian work force annually. The gross domestic product (GDP) “represents the total dollar value of all goods and services produced over a specific time period. In short, it's everything produced by people and businesses, including salaries of workers. GDP figures are calculated and released every business quarter by the Bureau of Economic Analysis [BEA], which is part of the Department of Commerce.

The BEA often revises estimates—either up or down—as it receives better data throughout the next quarter.” (Koba) This figure is important to the equation because it allows us to see the health of the country at any given time. VA Support is used to represent the programs the Department of Veteran Affairs has in place to support veteran employment. Programs like the Montgomery and Post 9/11 GI Bills are utilized by veterans to so they can pursue higher education. The VA also offers rehabilitation programs for veterans that are injured in the line