A report on the Navy Times shares that the jobless rate for veterans is still showing an upward trend, indicating that unemployment rate for former service members increased to 8.4 percent overall, and 11.8 percent for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, for the month of July.

Unemployment rates for June, in comparison, were 8 percent and 11 percent for veterans in general, and Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in particular, respectively.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Labor Department has declared that “the situation for veterans” has become worse than it was from a year ago.

In response, the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee passed the Veteran Employment Assistance Act on Thursday. The measure makes an effort towards improving transition programs for service members, as well as finding ways to assist veterans in acquiring the necessary credentials and licenses so that they can find employment in the private sector through the skills that they developed in the military. In addition, the measure also strives to expand programs for small businesses.

The bill was sponsored by Sen. Patty Murray, who said: “Veterans going from the battlefield to the working world face a unique set of challenges, and we owe them our strong support… the Veterans’ Employment Assistance Act would address these challenges comprehensively by creating new employment programs, expanding existing ones, and assessing how to improve the ones we have now.”

The bill provides, among others, demo projects targeting the direct movement of resources from the military into civilian positions in such fields as law enforcement, nursing and public health.