Business briefs: Iraq, Afghanistan veterans see high unemployment

WASHINGTON — The Labor Department says the unemployment rate last year for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans was 20.9 percent. Concerns that Guard and Reserve troops will be gone for long stretches and that veterans might have mental health issues or lack civilian work skills appear to be factors keeping many recent veterans out of work. Veterans ages 18 to 24 have had a particularly hard time finding work.

None of Berkshire Hathaway's top executives received big raises last year, and the chief financial officer earned nearly twice as much as his more famous boss, Warren Buffett. But that's exactly as Buffett wishes, and is typical for the company's compensation plan. Buffett favors simple compensation arrangements with incentives tied to things that executives can control.