FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 30, 1997

CONTACT: Cassandra Lyttle (202) 606-1800 lmlyttle@opm.gov

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Janice Lachance, Acting Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, announced today that the federal work force remains the national leader in employing Americas veterans.

As President Bill Clinton said on the 50th Anniversary of the Veterans Preference Act in 1994, Our nation owes a great deal to the men and women who have worn our countrys uniform. The prosperity and freedom we enjoy today are priceless gifts of their service and commitment, Lachance said.

Veterans preference rightly remains the law of the land, and as we recently demonstrated in our actions in regard to the National Credit Union Administrations hiring practices, we will act strongly to uphold our oversight role, Lachance said.

OPM recently stripped the National Credit Union Administrations right to make new hires, partially as a result of practices that violated veterans preference rights.

OPMs annual report to Congress on employment of veterans documents that, despite continued declines in both the number of veterans available to the labor force due to the aging of the veteran population and the number of federal jobs coming open every year, an average of almost 14,000 veterans per year have been hired for full-time permanent jobs in the federal government since fiscal year 1992.

The actual percentage of veterans among full-time permanent hires each year has actually grown since 1992, representing 35 percent of such hires in fiscal year 1996. This percentage has exceeded 30 percent every year since 1993.

The Executive Branch of federal government employed 506,939 veterans as of Sept. 30, 1996. Compared with the percentages of veterans employed in the overall national work force, the federal government employs three times as many Vietnam-era veterans, five times as many disabled veterans, and eight times as many veterans who have suffered more than 30 percent disability.

In fiscal year 1996, the federal government hired 34,724 veterans. While that total does represent

a decline of 5,632 from the previous years total number of veteran hires, the decline closely tracks the overall decline in total hires into the federal work force. Despite the declining number of veterans available in the labor force and a sharp drop in federal hiring opportunities, the total

percentage of veterans employed in the federal government has remained virtually level at 27 percent since fiscal year 1993. By comparison, the percentage of veterans in the total work force is now less than 12 percent.

That steadfast representation of veterans in the federal work force has been accomplished by our stewardship of veterans preference, Lachance said. The figures contained in our Annual Report to Congress on Veterans Employment in the Federal Government demonstrate how seriously the President and his Administration take this obligation.

Note to media: copies of the Annual Report to Congress on Veterans Employment in the Federal Government are available by contacting OPMs Office of Communications at 202-606-1800.

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