By Michael Schindler

Our friends at VetJobs.com clued me into this next story: The Department of Labor has announced a new partnership with Microsoft Corporation that will provide veterans with vouchers for no-cost training and certifications, which can lead to important industry-recognized credentials. This is a good thing, especially in light of the economy.

We’ve all seen the amazing drop in unemployment numbers so one might think this effort is “a little late to the party.” After all, in December the government reported that the current unemployment rate went from 9 percent to 8.6 percent with only 120,000 new jobs created. (Mathematically that is impossible but the Department of Labor got to 8.6 percent by saying 315,000 people dropped out of the workforce.) Please understand that to move the unemployment rate down 1 percent you have to have at least a 3.5 percent to 4 percent per month GDP growth rate for a year. As the folks at VetJobs say, “At this point in time, our economic growth is anemic.”

But I digress.

The voucher program will serve veterans in five communities with the highest number of returning post-9/11-era veterans: Seattle, San Diego, Houston, Northern Virginia and Jacksonville, Fla.

Additional information about this and other initiatives, including specific locations where the vouchers will be distributed, is available at the Department of Labor VETS website at www.dol.gov/vets/.

Michael Schindler, Navy veteran, and president of Edmonds-based Operation Military Family, is a guest writer for several national publications, author of the book “Operation Military Family” and “The Military Wire” blog. He is also a popular keynote and workshop speaker who reaches thousands of service members and their families every year through workshops and seminars that include  “How to Battle-Ready Your Relationship” or “What Your Mother-in-Law Didn’t Tell You.”  He received the 2010 Outstanding Patriotic Service Award from the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs.