The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring a job fair for veterans and military spouses in Chapel Hill today. It's part of a national initiative to curb the high unemployment rate among veterans.
Asma Khalid: North Carolina has roughly 31,000 unemployed veterans. Jeff Brooks is one of them. He's a retired Marine who lives near Chapel Hill. He served 27 years, Beirut, Desert Storm, the list goes on. He says the Marines instilled loyalty and teamwork in him - traits he thought bosses would appreciate. But he says he's noticed employers are sometimes leery of hiring veterans. Which is why he's going to the job fair this morning. He says companies there are more likely to hire people like him.
Jeff Brooks: It's people who realize what a veteran can bring to a company. Veterans are loyal to the companies that they work for. They're not looking for a temporary job and to move on.
In the last six months, North Carolina has hosted four similar job fairs.