poorest families, is consistent with the expressed preferences of the American public, and is deserving of your full support. I believe that when we have these two parts in place, our new youth initiative and our work and training opportunities program, we will have in our public employment training system a very significant system that can meet the needs of both the structurally unemployed in our society, as well as the important countercyclical needs, and that it will be a very good investment for the country. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would be glad to try to answer your questions now. [The prepared statement of Secretary Marshall follows:] STATEMENT OF RAY MARSHALL SECRETARY OF LABOR SUBCOMMITTEE ON EMPLOYMENT, POVERTY AND OF THE COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND HUMAN RESOURCES March 5, 1980 Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to present the Administration's proposal for the new Youth Training and Employment Act, the Labor Department's portion of the new youth education and training legislation. There are too many youths in the U.S. today who cannot find jobs, cannot hold jobs or cannot progress towards a life of productive contribution and economic independence. Since the start of this Administration, President underemployment among our disadvantaged youth. But there is still much to be done if we are to consolidate our gains. This new bill has been designed for the dual purposes of continuing the most promising elements of youth programs expiring in 1980 and of applying the knowledge we have developed about what works best for whom in youth employment and employability development. The goal of the Youth Training and Employment Act, in coordination with the Department of Education's Youth Education and Training Act, is to increase the future employability of disadvantaged youth through a carefully structured combination of education, training, work experience, and related services. This new bill is designed to O O O address the needs of youths at different ages and stages of development with a variety of strate- establish locally developed achievement benchmarks for both program providers and program participants; consolidate local programs and increase local decisionmaking on the mix and design of programs; о о redirect present youth unemployment programs toward intensive services for out-of-school youth and provide through the Department of Education for the basic educational needs of in-school youth; improve accountability for program performance provide extra resources to distressed areas; provide incentives for promoting special national purposes; promote linkages between CETA prime sponsors and educational agencies and institutions; improve access by youth to private sector employment; and improve staff and program capability. When fully implemented in 1982, we estimate that the Labor portion of the program would provide services to over 1.1 million young people, an increase of more than 450,000 over current program service levels. The Education program under Title II would provide services to one million secondary school age youth. I want to stress that the Act is a comprehensive proposa to improve the basic educational and employment skills of the nation's youth. It addresses the needs of young people and their potential employers. It offers assistance to students, in both junior and senior high schools, as well as those who have left school. It seeks to expand and coordinate existing services while simultaneously drawing on local knowledge and creativity to develop new ones. It stresses long-range planning, firm links between school and community, and strong incentives based on performance. Precisely because it is a comprehensive proposal, the Act's two main components should be viewed together. There is a basic division of responsibility with the Department of Education focusing primarily on those who are still in school, and the Department of Labor focusing on those who are not. The two programs have been designed to work together smoothly to provide a full range of services for the target group of young people. This is a united effort, one which will build on existing programs and structures, to forge strong links between the worlds of school and work. Before discussing the specific proposals the Administration has developed for dealing with the critical problems caused by excessive youth unemployment, I would like to discuss what we have learned from operating the new youth programs for two and one half years as well as from the vast array of special demonstration projects, research studies, program evaluations, and the intensive nine month study by the Vice President's Task Force on Youth Employment. Through our experimentation and through discussions with experts, practitioners, trained observers, and participants in our program, we know a great deal about the nature of youth unemployment, the problems it causes, and the approaches that work best. The Nature of Youth Employment The major findings of our review of youth unemployment are as follows: 1. Youth unemployment accounts for a major share of aggregate unemployment and is a problem of substantial concern. 2. Youth employment problems are critical because they are so inequitably distributed. The gap between white and non-white and between the rich and poor, has widened considerably. 68-724 0-80-3 |