On March 28, 2024, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) updated their annual veteran hiring benchmark to 5.2%, down by 0.2% from 2023. The hiring benchmark is updated each year and reflects the percentage of veterans in the civilian labor force. The new benchmark will be effective Friday, March 31, 2024.
Under the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act, federal contractors and subcontractors are required to establish a veteran hiring benchmark each year. Contractors can use the benchmark to help evaluate their hiring of veterans.
Contractors have two options to establish the benchmark: (1) they can develop their own individualized benchmark or (2) adopt the benchmark set by OFCCP. Most federal contractors use the OFCCP benchmark. To develop an individualized benchmark, contractors can use a Five-Factor Method provided by OFCCP.
The veteran hiring benchmark has been moving down for the past decade (see Figure 1). This is part a result of the fact that the veteran employment percentage has generally been higher than the employment percentage for the general population. The data used to calculate the annual veteran benchmark can be found on the website for the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Figure 1: VEVRAA Benchmark (%) changes over time
DCI will continue to monitor and share any further developments.
