And it's lower once again.

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs announced that the new annual hiring benchmark for protected veterans is 5.6 percent. Effective March 31, the benchmark drops from 5.7 percent to 5.6 percent.

Federal contractors are required to set a hiring benchmark for protected veterans each year. One of the options for setting this benchmark is the national percentage of veterans in the civil labor force. The number is updated each year around the end of March. Thus, contractors with Affirmative Action Plans effective on or after March 31, 2021, may use the lower 5.6 percent to determine whether the percentage of all hires during their AAP year met this objective.