Starbucks’s New Announcement Just Made A Lot Of Military Vets Happy

Starbucks has some big plans for job growth in America. The coffee powerhouse is ramping up its hiring efforts and wants to create more than 240,000 jobs around the world by 2021.

10,000 of these jobs have already been given to military veteran’s and military spouses , a deadline that was supposed to be met in 2018. Starbucks now wants to boost their hiring of veterans and has a goal of hiring 25,000 by 2025.

“We are better because of them,” CEO Howard Schultz said of the veterans that have been hired at Starbucks.

The company is planning to open 3,400 new stores by the end of 2017, and this year alone Starbucks could add 68,000 jobs.

The company is also scheduled to open 100 more military family stores throughout the U.S. in the next five years.

Starbucks currently has 32 of the stores, which are designed to support military communities and are staffed by veterans, advocates and military spouses.

Next to veterans, the company is focused on teens. Starbucks said it has exceeded its goal of hiring 10,000 “opportunity youth” in America by 2018. The company actually hired more than 40,000 and is now pushing this number to 100,000 hires by 2020.

“All they are looking for is someone to open a door and to view them on their own merit,” Schultz said, in regards to Starbucks being the first job for the youth.

One of the most noble moves the company has made is join with the UN Refugee Agency, International Rescue Committee’s #WithRefugees campaign and the Tent Partnership of Refugees to “scale up the company’s support and efforts to reach refugee candidates.”

Starbucks announced back in January that it would hire 10,000 refugees by 2022.

“Not every decision in business is an economic one,” Schultz said. According to the leader, a public company is “steeped in humanity” and that they have a moral obligation to do what is ethical, not just what is profitable.

Schultz is on his way out as Kevin Johnson take over as CEO on April 3rd. Hopefully he feels the same way.

Starbucks will also be adding three new big names to its board. Shareholders elected Rosalind Brewer, former president and CEO of Sam’s Club; Jorgen Vig Knudstorp, executive chairman of Lego; and Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, to the board.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) and have not been compensated for this article.