2012: Focusing on Military Spouse Employment

Last Friday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce kicked off a first-of-its-kind hiring fair focused exclusively on military spouses. The Hiring Our Heroes Military Spouse Career Forum, held in Washington, D.C., was the first of 10 planned hiring fairs for military spouses sponsored by the Chamber around the country in 2012.

This was a huge event and, walking around, I could not help but notice the incredible energy among employers and spouses alike. There was good reason for it -- more than 100 employers came to the forum with hundred of employment opportunities for the 1,000+ spouses in attendance.

With military spouse employment well above the national unemployment rate, this forum was a great start to a 2012 focus on military spouse employment by the Chamber of Commerce. Joining the effort is the Department of Defense's Military Spouse Employment Partnership (MSEP).  MSEP was rolled out by Dr Jill Biden at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in June 2011. To date, the 96 organizations and companies in the partnership have hired more than 13,000 military spouses around the world.