Summary: The Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1972 seeks to promote the employment of disabled and Vietnam veterans by federal contractors. Although federal contractors and state job service centers are generally meeting the requirements of the legislation, the impact of the law on the number of veterans actually hired by federal contractors is unclear. No reliable means has been established for evaluating the impact of these efforts on veteran employment levels or for producing data needed to carry out such an evaluation. In addition, the Department of Labor is limiting employment opportunities for veterans by narrowly defining job openings that are suitable for listing with state job service centers. Labor has defined suitable job openings as those paying less than $25,000 per year, an interpretation that seems inconsistent with the law's intent of increasing the numbers of jobs listed with state job service centers and that unnecessarily limits opportunities for veterans, most of whom are now in midcareer.
