“A Chance for Every Willing Worker,” US News Op-Ed by Gov. Tom Ridge

It was about this time three years ago that U.S. federal contractors learned of new rules from the Labor Department concerning the employment of qualified workers with disabilities and protected veterans. The new rules, the business community was told, would update 40-year-old federal policies to enhance job opportunities for people with disabilities and veterans. It represented the first time the federal government would create specific metrics to measure federal contractors’ progress toward achieving equal employment opportunity. With approximately 1 out of 4 U.S. companies being a federal contractor, this was a big deal.

So three years later, it’s worth asking: How are things working out?

I will admit to having had some conflicting thoughts at the outset. On the one hand, I sympathized with the business community, which raised valid concerns about aggressive new employment targets. There had never been a requirement for employers to hire a certain percentage of veterans or people with disabilities – now they were being told the goal would be 7 percent.”

To read more of Gov. Ridge’s Op-Ed at US News: http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2016-07-26/federal-contractors-are-hiring-more-disabled-workers