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especially to regain employment when displaced from jobs;

(2) in a society faced with unmatched demands for skills in the private sector of the economy, and with a mounting backlog of unmet needs in the public and nonprofit sector, older workers find little opportunity for useful and rewarding activity;

(3) the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 cannot reasonably be expected, without supplementary legislation, completely to end age discrimination in employment and to provide employment opportunities for middle-aged and older workers.

(4) the incidence of unemployment, especially long term unemployment with resultant deterioration of skill, morale and employer acceptability is, relative to the younger ages, high among workers of age forty-five and over; their numbers are great and growing; and their employment problems grave, yielding to no single, simple solution;

(5) as a consequence largely of unemployment or of employment in low-skilled jobs, or retirement with severely reduced incomes, millions of persons age fortyfive and over live in poverty;

(6) more than a million men between the ages of fifty-five and sixty-four have given up the active search

for work, most through loss of hope of employment; for millions of men and women their only choice is to retire between the ages of sixty-two to sixty-four on low and inadequate benefits continuing throughout their lifetime;

for those in their middle ages, the option of retirement is not available;

(7) for those who are employed, there is almost no opportunity for continued training and education, including planning and preparation for retirement, to meet the changes which lie ahead in their working lives and the years beyond;

(8) the loss to the economy of the potential production of goods and services and the costs of unemployment compensation and public assistance, can be reckoned in billions of dollars;

(9) the loss to the individual in terms of frustration, impaired morale, loss of the sense of worth and dignity, and of status within the family and society, are incalculable; and

(10) providing the age groupe with opports dies for useful work, part-time and full-time, will bring th

needed income, or supplement van bevares will beating

their pays, and mania, bagah, and *

providing server nostat, 17 xi wys youngest, pres

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PURPOSE

SEC. 102. It is therefore the purpose of this Act to

3 establish and to stimulate programs which will—

(1) afford the older worker a range of real and reasonable alternatives from among which he can make a free choice depending on his individual needs and

capacities;

(2) help clear the obstacles which confront the older jobseeker and eliminate arbitrary discriminatory practices which deny work to qualified persons solely on account of age;

(3) increase the availability of jobs by finding new work opportunities, including part-time employment in needed community services to supplement income and to facilitate the transition to full retirement or the return

to full-time work;

(4) improve and extend existing programs intended to facilitate the matching of skills and jobs, and to

cushion the impact of unemployment;

(5) pave the way for older workers, employers, labor unions, and educational institutions to prepare for

and adjust to anticipated changes in technology in jobs, in educational requirements, and in personnel practices, and to prepare for satisfying retirement; and

(6) make maximum use of existing programs and

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AND SPECIAL PROGRAMS IN THE DEPART

MENT OF LABOR FOR MIDDLE AGED AND

OLDER PERSONS

MIDCAREER DEVELOPMENT SERVICE

SEC. 201. There is hereby established in the Depart

10 ment of Labor a bureau to be known as the Midcareer Devel

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opment Service, to administer the provisions of this title.

TRAINING PROGRAMS

SEC. 202. (a) The Secretary of Labor (hereinafter in 14 this title referred to as the Secretary), through the Midcareer Development Service, is authorized to make loans and grants for training designed to upgrade the work skills and capabilities of middle-aged persons who are at least forty-five years of age.

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(b) Any grant or loan made pursuant to this section may be used to pay all or part of the cost of training under any such program plus such stipends (including allowances 22 for subsistence or other expenses) for such persons and their 23 dependents as he may determine to be consistent with pre

vailing practices under comparable Federal programs.

(c) A grant or loan under this section shall be made on

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1 such terms and conditions as the Secretary shall prescribe and 2 may be made only upon application to the Secretary at such 3 time or times and containing such information as he deems 4 necessary. The Secretary shall not approve an application 5 unless it sets forth a program for training for the applicant 6 which meets criteria established by him.

7 (d) The Secretary shall pay to each applicant who has

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an application approved by him part or all of the cost of such 9 application.

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(e) Persons receiving payments under the provisions of 11 this section shall continue to receive such payments only 12 during such periods as the Secretary finds that they are 13 maintaining satisfactory proficiency in such training program. (f) The Secretary is authorized to enter into agreements to provide loan guarantees to lending institutions on such terms and conditions as the Secretary shall pre17 scribe in order to permit such institutions to make loans to

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persons who are at least forty-five years of age for training 19 which qualifies under this section.

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TRAINING PERSONS TO TRAIN AND RETRAIN OLDER

WORKERS

SEC. 203. (a) The Secretary, with the cooperation of

23 the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, is author24 ized to develop and operate a program under which an 25 adequate number of persons are trained to understand the