Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress makes the following findings: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for recent veterans of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan was 9.4 percent in February 2013, compared with 7.6 percent in February 2012. With the unemployment rate among such veterans higher than the national average and the number of veterans receiving unemployment benefits doubling since 2002, there is a significant need to assist members of the Armed Forces as they transition to the civilian workforce.
In order to remain competitive in the civilian employment market, members of the Armed Forces and veterans require information about how their military skill sets translate to the requirements of the civilian workforce. Members of the Armed Forces currently receive insufficient or inadequate information during their training for military occupational specialties on translating skills obtained during such training to civilian occupations and credentials. In addition, there is a need for enhanced access by accredited credentialing agencies to military training curricula in order to facilitate and enhance the correlation between military training and applicable civilian credentialing courses and exams.
The information technology sector is one of the fastest growing industries, with tremendous job growth and demand for talented, qualified individuals. The information technology sector has an unemployment rate of 3.5 percent according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report from February 2013. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a need for 110,000 computer support specialists over the next decade. Currently, the size of the information technology workforce in the Armed Forces is about 160,000 members.