This is the fourth of a series of reports in response to your letter of July 28, 1971, requesting the General Accounting Office to conduct an ongoing review and evaluation of the programs undertaken by the Department of Labor to implement the Emergency Employment Act of 1971 (85 Stat. 146). This report is concerned with the methods and procedures which States, counties, and cities (program agents) and other governmental units, such as school districts, serving as subagents followed in selecting and hiring persons for public service jobs. Also, the report comments on several issues related to the selection and enrollment of persons. Our review covered the activities of 25 program agents and included the selection and enrollment of persons in both the Public Employment Program under section 5 of the act and the Special Employment Assistance Program under section 6 of the act. The contents of this report were discussed informally with officials of the Department of Labor and with representatives of certain program agents. These officials, however, have not been given the opportunity to formally consider and comment on the report. In accordance with our agreement with your office, we are providing a copy of this report to the Chairman, Select Subcommittee on Labor, House Committee on Education and Labor. We will make B-163922 further distribution of this report only after your agreement has been obtained or public announcement has been made by you concerning its contents. Sincerely yours, Zemes B. Pacts Comptroller General The Honorable Gaylord Nelson Chairman, Subcommittee on Employment, Committee on Labor and Public Welfare Procedures for reaching, screening, and hiring participants As of June 1972 EEA had obtained public service jobs in State and local governments for 168,700 persons. About 17,000 of these persons had been previously employed in State or local governments but had been laid off, generally because of budgetary problems. The special publicity and outreach efforts of the program agents, as well as the rate of unemployment and the number of unemployed persons in the areas served by the agents, undoubtedly had some effect on the number of persons applying for EEA jobs. Although GAO's analysis did not establish any direct correlation between the outreach efforts or the number of unemployed persons and the number of job applicants, it did show that generally the higher the rate of unemployment, the higher the ratio of applicants to jobs. (See p. 5.) Data on the characteristics of the non-selected applicants was not adequate. This prevented an assessment of whether, given existing hiring practices, these persons could have been successfully accommodated in the program had additional jobs been available. (See p. 7.) Matching applicants to the available jobs--screening, referring, and hiring--has largely been achieved through existing administrative units of government, without creating new bureaucracies and apparently without changing much in the existing institutions. Some agencies have made special accommodations for program applicants, circumventing usual hiring requirements or standards. However, there are indications that the effect of these special accommodations may be only temporary and that they may not insure permanent placement for many participants. (See pp. 9 and 17.) Efforts to get unemployed persons into jobs as soon as possible met a number of obstacles, some of which could not have been anticipated and OCT. 12.1972 Tear Sheet others of which could have been eliminated by better planning and program information. (See p. 10.) Application of the rule that former regular employees could not be rehired by program agents as EEA participants within 30 days, which was established by the Department at the direction of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, generally caused no problems among the program agents included in the GAO review, except at two locations where it resulted in inequitable treatment for both regular employees and EEA participants. The Senate Committee on Appropriations advised the Department in February 1972 that it could be more flexible in applying the 30-day rule. However, the Department's reply to the Committee stated that it planned to continue its present regulation to assist in controlling maintenance of effort by program agents. (See p. 14.) Reaching target groups Program agents established various priorities for hiring persons to fill jobs under EEA. The majority of program agents had hiring procedures which gave preference to veterans, and some program agents gave preference to veterans who had served in Korea or Vietnam over other veterans. (See p. 20.) Almost all the program agents stated that they also gave preference to other significant segments of the unemployed, including (1) disadvantaged persons, (2) members of minority groups, (3) welfare recipients, (4) former enrollees in manpower training programs, and (5) persons displaced by technological changes. Data on the extent of unemployment among the significant segments of the population was generally not available on a localized basis. GAO therefore was unable to determine whether the various groups of unemployed persons, such as young or disadvantaged persons, were being properly represented among those being hired. (See p. 22.) 76-736 72 pt. 5- 29 |