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Magic, Statistics and Sleight-of-Hand: Carter 'Ends' Viet Vet Unemployment

By VVAW

As reported in the summer issue of The Veteran, a stroke of bureaucratic wizardry will soon lead to the end of unemployment among Vietnam and Vietnam-era veterans. In April, the Labor Department let out the fact that they had made a major decision: anyone who had been out of the service for more than 48 months could no longer be considered a Vietnam veteran when they try to get a job or enroll in job training in any of the many programs sponsored by that Department. A Texas Congressman investigating the situation found that, in one day, unemployment among Vietnam vets in his state had dropped by 66%, from over 30,000 to just over 10,000.

This sort of statistical magic—and no magician could make an elephant disappear more completely than the Labor Department attempted to eliminate unemployed Vietnam Vets—is a big aid when President Carter, in his October message to Congress about the state of Vietnam veterans, could say, "Our review has found personal and family median incomes and substantially higher than similar aged non-veterans, and their unemployment rates have been lowered... It is fair to say that most Vietnam-era veterans have moved into the mainstream of economic life..." Our at least, as Carter did not add, off the rolls of the government statisticians!

But even this sleight-of-hand is only a part of the statistical game-playing that is directed at the army of unemployed vets. The statistic that Carter quoted was that unemployment among Vietnam-era vets was, at the time of his speech, 4.7%, below national average. These statistics come from state and local employment agencies; they are based on the number of vets on the rolls—that is, the number drawing unemployment. But even the Department of Labor, which adds up the figures, admits that as many as 30% of the veterans on their rolls are dumped without getting a job or getting training that can lead to a job. Another 3-4% of all workers are underemployed?looking for a full-time job but unable to find one. And there are to statistics on the number of vets forced into bare survival jobs at minimum wage in order to continue to exist. Adding up the figures, unemployment among Vietnam-era veterans may be as high as 1.3 million—13%—a long ways from "moving into the mainstream of the American economy.

So what are these turkey politicians and their statistical gnomes up to? Playing upon the real needs of vets, making a little political mileage out of being a "friend of the vet" has always been good politics. If Carter, or anyone else, can come up with a program that may employ a thousand veterans, his "contribution" looks much larger if the total number of unemployed vets can be slashed. Pressure around the disgusting situation of unemployment among Vietnam vets forced the government to do something; the phony job programs, which often benefit nothing more than a handful of career veteran bureaucrats with their own title and office, have accomplished so little that the only solution the government could find was to play these statistical games. In short, it's do-nothing and try to look as good as possible.

Of course being declared a "non-Vietnam-era vet," or being dropped from the statistics doesn't change the situation of the vet looking for a job, any more than trying to ignore the many problems of Vietnam vets has made vets go away. And this newest charade trying to mislead vets and the American people as a while will not serve to keep vets silent. Vets will continue to demand jobs or income now!