The White House this week released an update on national efforts -- by government, communities, educational institutions and employers -- to support the hiring of people who have been out-of-work for months and years. We're glad but certainly not surprised to report that companies headed by Business Roundtable CEOs are prominent in these efforts.

From "Employer Progress on Recruiting and Hiring the Long-Term Unemployed":

• Frontier Communications has hired more than 250 long-term unemployed people since January 2014, about 20 percent of Frontier’s hires. The hiring of the long-term employed increased by 17 percent after Frontier began video interviewing in February, a process that helps remove biases that may arise in screening resumes.
• Comcast is piloting a hiring program that relies less on a resume, or recent work experience, and instead looks almost entirely at the behavioral attributes that will make someone successful in a role. About 10 percent of hires in Comcast’s new classes were previously unemployed.
• Procter & Gamble is targeting ads to reach unemployed job seekers, explicitly advertising that qualified unemployed individuals will not be disadvantaged solely based on their unemployment status.
• J.P. Morgan Chase is a partner in Skills for Chicagoland’s Future. Through its five-year, $250 million New Skills at Work initiative, the company is providing ongoing support for local and national training organizations serving the long-term unemployed through its Foundation including Skills for Chicagoland Future, the WorkPlace, Per Scholas, and Year Up, among others. Graduates of these programs have successfully applied for internships and full-time positions at JP Morgan Chase.
• Qualcomm is creating a program that will launch in 2015 specifically for long-term unemployed individuals that provides internships as well as advice and coaching on topics such as networking, interviewing and personality discovery. This program is based onQualcomm’s Corporate Integration Program for Warrior Veterans.
• Principal Financial has joined other Iowa businesses in hiring Veterans through the Home Base Iowa Initiative and chairs the initiative.
• Bank of America will publish Rockefeller/Deloitte jobseeker handbook on career resources web pages including the Career Resource Center launching next month. These sites are targeted for people who have applied to B of A, but not received a job.
• KPMG has participated extensively in career fairs and training programs for the unemployed and veterans. Although the national unemployment rate is 3.4 % in the accounting industry, through outreach and recruiting efforts, KPMG was able to hire about 300 individuals from the long-term unemployed population, 9 percent of their total hires for fiscal year 2014.
• As an example of CVS’ commitment to hiring the long-term unemployed, recruiters in Rhode Island have volunteered their time with a local job club to provide mock interviews and other career counseling advice to the unemployed. CVS has been able to identify strong candidates and has hired 22 long-term unemployed individuals from this initiative.
• PG&E is expanding its PowerPathwaysprogram—an initiative that partners with local community colleges and non-profits to get people trained for and into careers in the utility industry—with two community colleges focused specifically on the long-term unemployed and veterans. So far they have placed 14 students into good jobs at PG&E and other companies.

A great start!