Dive Brief:

• More than 100 U.S. contractors have signed onto a White House-backed pledge to hire 100,000 veterans for construction jobs over the next five years.
• Government statistics say that construction will add 1.6 million workers by 2022.
• First Lady Michelle Obama announced the program, part of what the White House calls its "Joining Forces" effort to connect veterans with jobs, at a conference in Washington on Monday.

Dive Insight:

The campaign to hire veterans as the construction workforce expands appears to be a win-win for the Obama team that is touting it and for contractors looking for labor. An executive from Bechtel, which is one of the signed-on companies, said veterans "often have the traits that are so critical to our success: agility, discipline, integrity, and the drive to get the job done right.”