Obama works with CEOs to help long-term unemployed

President Barack Obama arrives with PG&E apprentice electrician Erick Varela, a U.S. Army combat...

As part of a renewed push to create opportunities for the long-term unemployed, President Obama on Friday touted the success story of a once-homeless Iraq War veteran who turned his life around through an electrician apprenticeship.

When Erick Varela, a heavy-equipment operator who served as a combat infantryman in the 82nd Airborne in Iraq, left the Army in 2008, he returned home to Manteca, Calif., where the housing crisis had hit hard and he was unable to find work. He applied to fast-food restaurants and retail, but had no luck getting hired. At one point, he and his wife, Katey, lived out of their car when they could no longer afford to pay their rent.

Still determined to find work, Varela discovered an apprenticeship opportunity at California utility PG&E's PowerPathway program, and he applied and was accepted. After he attended and graduated from the four-month program, he found work at Tesla's Tracy, Calif., office as an apprentice electrician with PG&E.

I would like to thank PG&E for giving me this opportunity. The work PG&E provided me restored purpose to my life and gave me a sense of direction once again, Varela said before introducing Obama at a White House event.

PG&E is expanding its PowerPathway program and is one of more than 300 companies that has agreed to develop so-called best practices to ensure the long-term unemployed aren't unfairly screened out of potential jobs.

The president spent Friday morning huddling with CEOs from some of the nation's largest companies to move forward on a State of the Union pitch to mitigate discrimination against the long-term unemployed.

Obama said those companies, as well as the federal government, would make changes to their hiring practices to ensure people who have been out of work for long periods aren't skipped over for jobs.

The president also touted a $150 million Labor Department grant competition to develop ways for those out of work more than six months to find jobs and a new effort, led by Vice President Joe Biden, to review and improve existing government job training programs.

At the event, Obama thanked business leaders, philanthropists and members of his administration who had worked to help hardworking Americans like Varela not just get a paycheck but also the dignity and the structure that a job provides people.

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Obama works with CEOs to help long-term unemployed