VOL. 22

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Task Force on Older Worker Project

REPRESENTATIVES of seven State employment security agencies California, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Washingtonmet with Bureau technicians in Washington, D. C., October 17, 18, and 19 to discuss their prospective research on employment problems of the older worker. The area studies planned in those States are part of an overall project initiated by the Secretary of Labor.

Bureau Director Robert C. Goodwin addressed the opening session of the conference, as did Assistant Directors Arthur W. Motley and Louis Levine. Charles E. Odell, recently named special assistant to the Under Secretary of Labor in charge of the Department's Older Worker Programs, also spoke to the group.

The principal topic on the conference agenda was the Minneapolis-St. Paul pre-test conducted by the Minnesota agency under the supervision of Ray Solem, head of the agency's research and statistics. staff. Detailed findings were. presented by staff members of the two agencies which cooperated in making the pilot survey-the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Department of Employment Security. State and Bureau representatives reviewed the methods, procedures, and forms used in the Minneapolis-St. Paul study and agreed, in general, that the approach taken in that area would be adopted by the other six agencies in their forthcoming surveys. The group also discussed scheduling and other operational problems incident to the undertaking of the research in their own States.

The studies are designed to determine the employment and turnover patterns of older workers, their unemployment experience as compared with that of other workers, and methods of improving the jobfinding assistance given them by the public Employment Service.

Farm Worker Safety

THE Labor Department recently published a 2-fold leaflet entitled "In Transporting Farm Workers, Safety Is Your Responsibility." It is intended for distribution through local employment offices to farmers and truck owners who transport farm workers. It supplements the folder "A Safe Load Is a Pay Load for You" which is directed toward transportation safety in day-haul activities.

The leaflet carries an introduction from the President's Committee on Migratory Labor, of which Secretary of Labor Mitchell is chairman. This introduction points out that, while the Committee is planning to ask States to pass laws to make the transportation of people on trucks safe, truck owners and drivers can begin immediately to carry out the safety recommendations described in the folder.

"Safety Is Your Responsibility" can be used in the general program of educating farm employers and other interested groups on ways to improve living and working conditions for migrant workers and their families. Its principal use in employment security, however, should prove to be its value to farm placement personnel in their contacts with employers and crew leaders arising out of the operation of the annualworker plan.

Copies of the leaflet have been sent to each State agency. Additional copies may be obtained from the Bureau of Employment Security in Washington. American Education Week

By Presidential proclamation, American Education Week is being observed this year from November 6-12. In announcing the week, President Eisenhower said: "WHEREAS the pioneers of our Nation established schools and colleges and regarded education as a bulwark of the American way of life; and

"WHEREAS the Nation's schools and educational institutions have contributed immeasurably to the welfare of our people and to the progress and security of our country; and

"WHEREAS education contributes not only to the development of a fuller and more useful life for the individual citizen but also to the safeguarding of the freedoms and ideals which we cherish as Americans; and

"WHEREAS in this year of the White House Conference on Education our people have a right to take special pride in our Nation's educational system, and an obligation to demonstrate a desire and capacity to meet the major problems facing American education:

"NOW, THEREFORE, I, DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate the period from November 6 through November 12, 1955, as American Education Week, and I ask the people throughout the country to participate fully in the observance of that week. I urge this observance as evidence of appreciation to teachers and school officials for work well done, and as a pledge of citizen interest in better education. I also urge this observance as a fitting prelude to the White House Conference on Education to be held in the City of Washington from November 28 through December 1, 1955, and as a tribute to the challenging role American education is playing in building a better and stronger nation in today's world of nations."

"Operation Alert" Plans Found Useful in Flood

AN interim action program supplied to State employment security agencies as a part of the planning for "Operation Alert" last June was used successfully in meeting disaster situations caused by recent floods in the northeastern States.

A document entitled, "Interim Manpower Measures in Case of Enemy Attack" was prepared by the Labor Department's Bureau of Employment Security and furnished to all State agencies with a request that each local employment office keep the material at hand for use in an emergency.

The Bureau suggested that in event of enemy attack, local offices contact civil defense officials, establish temporary locations where necessary, and make use of radio and sound trucks in cases where normal communications were interrupted.

In discussing flood manpower problems with Pennsylvania State officials, the Bureau found that local employment offices in the flood areas had put the interim plan into effect as soon as the flood struck. Although cut off from the State headquarters, the local office personnel contacted local civil defense officials and made their local offices the focal point for workers to carry on emergency operations. The radio was used by local offices to recruit workers for repair work and to advise laid-off workers where to go to file claims.

The Bureau will make a field study of the actual operations carried on by State and local offices during the emergency. The purpose will be to determine points of similarity between conditions that actually existed in flood-hit areas with those which might exist as a result of a bomb attack. Material gathered during the survey will be used to develop a guide for use by State employment security agencies and local employment offices in event of disaster, due to atomic attack, floods, or other causes.

Nation Observes NEPH Week

MARKED by special ceremonies throughout the Nation, the tenth anniversary of National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week was observed October 2-8.

(Continued on page 40)

Employment Security Activities at a Glance, August 1955, U. S. and Territories

$8, 189, 478, 700

+2

2 The first 4 items relate to the program based on the Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1952. Data include 10,800 initial claims, 37,600 weeks claimed, and 8,200 insured unemployment for veterans filing to supplement State and/or UCFE benefits. Ercluded are data for veterans filing to supplement railroad unemployment insurance benefits.

3 Data include Federal employees filing jointly under State UI programs: 1,900 initial claims, 8,700 weeks claimed, 1,900 insured unemployment.