LIMITED in the past by its unwieldy size and heavy workload volume, the Miami local office in 1955 sought a means of better service to everyone in the area. One of the first steps was a place-of-work, place-of-residence survey to determine the best type and location of new facilities. William Norwood, Jr., and Robert Beasley of the FSES tell the facts learned through the study and how the agency is using them to serve the community better. p. 4.

TRAINING takes teamwork, says M. K. Westerdahl of the Minnesota State agency. How such teamwork between field supervisors and the training staff has brought about an effective staff training program is the gist of his article. p. 7.

THE Canadian Unemployment Insurance Act provides for the administration of the national unemployment insurance scheme by an autonomous body, the Unemployment Insurance Commission. While in many respects the Canadian law is like those of the States, there are differences in the adjudication procedure. D. J. Macdonnell of the Canadian Commission points out these differences in his article on p. 10.

HAVE you ever wondered how entry tests for State agency jobs came into

A NEW Community action program for older women who need employment was introduced in Boston in May. The project, a one-day Earning Opportunities Forum for Mature Women, was sponsored by labor, industry, and community organizations of Massachusetts in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Labor and Industries, the Massachusetts Division on the Employment of the Aging, the Massachusetts Division of Employment Security, and the U. S. Department of Labor.

The objectives of the forum were twofold: (1) to answer questions and provide information to women who need counseling and advice about employment; (2) to assist in filling occupational shortage jobs with mature women.

Admission was free and individual consultations were available after the regular sessions. The counselors represented

time

Meeting of President's Committee on
Employment of the Physically Handicapped

THE President's Committee on Employment of the Physically Handicapped held its annual meeting in Washington, May 17 and 18, with representatives of Governors' Committees from the 48 States, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico in attendance. Special emphasis was placed on ways and means of increasing the effectiveness of community committees on employment of the physically disabled.

Secretary of Labor James P. Mitchell welcomed the representatives to the conference in behalf of the Department of Labor and spoke briefly on the Employment Service program for the handicapped.

One of the highlights of the meeting was a special citation presented to Adm. Ross T McIntire (MC)

No. 7

USN Ret., former chairman of the Committee. Admiral McIntire was cited "for outstanding voluntary performance of duty as Chairman of the President's Committee on Employment of the Physically Handicapped from September 1947 to April 1954." Maj. Gen. Melvin J. Maas, USMCR Ret., present Chairman of the President's Committee, presented the award.

The Bankers Life & Casualty Co. of Chicago received the Certificate of Distinguished Service, highest award of the President's Committee. This award was given to the insurance firm for its support of the hire-the-handicapped program in producing a film, "America's Untapped Asset," which portrays physically handicapped workers engaged in gainful employment. The film received national distribution through the cooperation of State employment and rehabilitation agencies and Governors' Committees for the handicapped.

Vice President Richard M. Nixon presented awards to five young people who had won the annual essay contest open to high school juniors and seniors in the United States and Territories. Their essays had been selected from thousands of entries from 36 States. This year's subject was "Independence for the Handicapped Through Employment."

Alaire Dickson, Gooding High School, Gooding, Idaho, won the $1,000 first prize. Other winners are: second prize, $400, Kay Ray, Tucson High School, Tucson, Ariz.; third prize, $300, Theresa Drzal, Central Catholic High School, Johnstown, Pa.; fourth prize, $200, Sharon Borg, Eastern High School, Salt Lake City, Utah; and fifth prize, $100, Rodney Nicholson, Parkers Chapel High School, El Dorado, Ark.

Vice President Nixon presented to Dr. Arthur S. Abramson, Yeshiva University, New York City, the 1955 President's Trophy for "Handicapped Man of the Year." Dr. Abramson is professor and chairman of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, at Yeshiva. He was nominated for the trophy by the New York Governor's Committee on Employment of the Physically Handicapped.

Dr. Abramson was unanimously selected for the honor "for the great inspirational example of rehabilitation he represents, for the outstanding contribution he is making to restoration of seriously handicapped persons to usefulness in the field of medicine and rehabilitation, and for the leadership he has provided toward returning the disabled to independent living." Dr. Abramson is a paraplegic as a result of wounds received in the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. Cerebral Palsied Artist Wins Contest

CEREBRAL PALSY proved no handicap to the young Forest Hills, N. Y., housewife who won $1,000 in the first National Art Contest for the Handicapped. The

6-month event, open to all handicapped artists in territorial United States, closed at midnight May 1.

The first prize was awarded to "Ships at Bay," an oil painting by 34-year-old Mrs. Lucille Wallenrod Dreyblatt at the opening of a 1-week public display at a New York City department store. Mrs. Dreyblatt has won several other art prizes and has exhibited her work at galleries in New York City. She spent about 5 months on her latest winner.

Second prize of $500 went to a double-arm amputee, James Mack Abercrombie of Bryan, Tex. The third prize of $250 was awarded to Edward F. McDonald of Somerville, Mass., a World War II veteran, rated 80-percent disabled by the Veterans Administration as a result of gunshot wounds received during combat. Nineteen other prizes, including 10 of $50 each, were also awarded.

The ceremonies announcing the first three prize winners included speeches by representatives of the four organizations which sponsored the contest-the President's Committee on Employment of the Physically Handicapped, the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, the Veterans Administration, and the Morris Morgenstern Foundation of New York City.

In his remarks, General Maas of the President's Committee said that this fall, in connection with National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week, the sponsors hope to bring the winners to Washington to receive their awards from Chief Justice Warren, who headed the Honorary Sponsors Committee of 12 people. The sponsors are considering having the winning paintings carried on a tour of 50 or more cities across the Nation.

Federal-State Conference on Aging

REFLECTING the concern of Federal and State Governments in meeting more effectively the problems of our mature citizens, a Federal-State Conference on Aging was held in Washington, D. C., June 5-7, 1956. The Conference was sponsored jointly by the Council of State Governments and the Federal Council on Aging. It brought together some 250 individuals, including top officials selected by Governors of 43 States and Territories, and Federal leaders from Government agencies and departments most concerned with problems of older people.

Conference participants attended a series of panels on basic problems and ideas pertaining to the aging. For intensive discussions and recommendations for action on specific problems, they divided into discussion groups concerned with employment, vocational rehabilitation, and retirement; income maintenance; health; education; recreation; housing; and organization and functions in the States.

United States Department of Labor and Federal and State employment security officials played a prominent part in the Conference. Under Secretary of Labor Arthur Larson gave a major address on "New Light on Older Workers." Robert Goodwin, Bureau of Employment Security Director, spoke as a member of a panel on "A Look Ahead at Grants-in-Aid Programs for the Aging."

Major attention was given during the conference to the role of employment counseling and placement through the public employment service. Among recommendations made were:

1. Development of effective State and local programs including counseling and placement services for older workers through public employment offices.

2. Intensive research, under Federal Government leadership, to provide more facts about the physical capacities and performance records of older workers, and use of these findings in educational programs to change traditional attitudes blocking the employment of these workers.

3. Development of educational programs to encourage employers to adopt plant policies which will insure employment and retention of qualified older workers and will stimulate employment opportunities for older persons.

4. Provision of specialized personnel in public employment offices where needed to insure that services to older workers are provided by adequately trained and experienced personnel.

5. Review by each State of its personnel policies to insure selection of fully qualified personnel and provision of salaries commensurate with the functions and duties assigned to such personnel.

6. Extension of unemployment insurance to cover more people and provide larger benefits with less restrictive qualifications.

7. Setting up in each State of an interdepartmental committee and a citizens advisory committee, or a combination of both, to coordinate activities relating to the needs of the aging population and to assist in developing adequate facilities for meeting the needs of the aging.

(Continued on page 29)

FOR

'OR a number of years the Florida State Employment Service had difficulty in providing adequate service through its Miami local office. By any measure one wishes to use, Miami is the largest office in Florida and in size of staff in the entire Southeast, and has always handled a large workload volume. It makes more nonagricultural placements than any other office in Florida, or in Region IV, yet has an exceptionally high rate of canceled orders.

Recent evaluations of performance have brought out the fact that the personnel of the office have been kept fully occupied in making placements in the lowerskilled categories and have had relatively little time to

devote to the development of placements in the higher-skilled categories. This agency has been unable to take full advantage of the more adequate allowances provided by the standard unit time factors because the present office does not have sufficient floor space to permit additions to the staff.

In order to determine the best type and location of additional facilities, the Florida agency and Bureau of Employment Security undertook, in the spring of 1955, a place-of-work, place-of-residence study. Following are some of the facts brought out by the study and the decisions to which they led.