Socony-Vacuum Oil Company advertisement assuring returning veterans that jobs will be waiting for them.
The prospect of over 15 million men returning to the job market after the war veterans prompted significant concerns about the impact on the economy.
But on June 22, 1944, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, better known today as the GI Bill. The Veterans Administration, as it was known then, was charged with carrying out the law’s key provisions. Among other things, the GI Bill appropriated $500 million for the construction of facilities for veterans, authorized unemployment compensation of $20 per week for a maximum of 52 weeks, offered job placement aid for vets and provided up to four years of education and training at an annual tuition rate of $500 along with a stipend ranging from $50 to $74 per month.
This advertisement appeared shortly after the bill was signed
