ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR THE JOBS PROGRAM Family income must be below the poverty level, and in addition the person must meet one of the following requirements: (1) have not graduated from high school (2) be under 22 or over 44 years of age (3) be physically, mentally or emotionally handicapped (4) possess special obstacles to employment Source: Page 108, Staff Study on the JOBS Program. APPROPRIATIONS, OBLIGATIONS, AND OUTLAYS FOR JOBS AS OF MAR. 31, 1970 CUMULATIVE DATA ON JOBS SUPPLIED BY LABOR DEPARTMENT, AS OF JAN. 31, 1970 CUMULATIVE DATA ON JOBS (TOTAL CONTRACT AND NON-CONTRACT) SUPPLIED BY THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE THE MA-3 CONTRACT Period of request for proposals: March to August 1968. Length of contract: 2 years. Payback period: 260 working days, or 52 weeks. Results as of Jan. 31, 1970: Slots authorized.. Persons hired.. Persons terminated_ As percent of those As percent of those hired Percent 8.3 5.6 6.8 5.9 5.5 20.3 25.6 20.3 7.3 NOTES This is DOL data, as of Jan. 31, 1970, based on 9,137 persons terminated for whom data was available. From the above data it can be observed that 45,300 persons were hired under MA-3 contracts. Since a total of 84,703 persons have been hired under all JOBS contracts, MA-3 hires are 54 percent of all JOBS hires. Of these 45,300, 49.1 percent had dropped out in less than 4 months. Very few of those 30,736 who terminated-whether "terminated" here means quitting, being fired, or entering the employers regular work force-did so after a period of more than 8 months (only 7.3 percent). THE MA-4 CONTRACT Period of request for proposals: September 1968 to April 1969. This is DOL data, as of Jan. 31, 1970, based on 3,384 persons terminated for whom data was available. From the above data it can be observed that 31,362 persons were hired under MA-4 contracts. Since a total of 84,703 persons have been hired under all JOBS contracts, MA-4 hires are 37 percent of all JOBS hires. Of these 31,362, 48.6 percent had dropped out in less than 4 months. Almost none of those who terminated (1 percent) did so after a period of 8 months. All MA-4 contracts are still running; they will not begin to expire until September 1970. Hence many of those “retained" are relatively recent hires. More accurate data on MA-4 retentions will become apparent in a year or so. Senator NELSON. You may proceed to present your statement, however you desire, Mr. Secretary and of course, extemporaneously at any time, and any contribution that Mr. Weber wishes to make, just feel free to present it at any time you want. Secretary SHULTZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (The following information was subsequently supplied for the record :) RESPONSE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR TO OPENING STATEMENT BY SENATOR NELSON AT MANPOWER TRAINING ACT HEARINGS, MAY 11, 1970 The Department has the following comments on several points made in Senator Nelson's opening statement. The statement suggests that the JOBS program is vulnerable to recession. While there is no question that the general economic condition of the Nation will affect the operation of the JOBS program, it is no more vulnerable than that of employment in the country at large. Where JOBS employees have been laid off, they were part of a general furloughing of a company's work force. The susceptibility to layoff is no greater than that of any worker with equivalent seniority in a firm that is cutting back on production. In contrast, new JOBS contracts are continuously being executed during the downswing and are presently being executed at an average rate of $6 million per week. The companies that are contracting with the government are in fields that have not been affected by the slowdown. These include many financial institutions and other companies and organizations in the service industries. Thus in the face of rising unemployment, job opportunities are still being made available to the Nation's poor. With regard to the statement's references to the Department's views on the majority staff report: The staff report does reprint the complete text of a subsection of the Manpower Report of the President as the statement contends. However, specific comments in that subsection were printed out of context on page 3 of the staff report, e.g., that the premise of the JOBS program was "not yet fully tested", and that turnover was a serious problem, while the complete reprint is found only later in the report, on pages 9 and 10. The quote from the JOBS Handbook regarding the so called "30 minute rule" completely disregarded the materials in the Handbook immediately surrounding the reprinted clause. Citations to the full text may be found in the Department's response on pages 174 and 175 of the report. These illustrate the Handbook's emphasis on the absolute need for insuring program quality during egotiation process. The fact that the General Accounting Office com the n pounded the misreading of the Handbook does not mitigate the fact that the 30 minute rule" as stated in the majority staff report completely misconstrues both the substance and the spirit of the original materials. As to the maximum amount that a contractor could receive for training an individual, it was the misleading inference, rather than the total dollar amounts, which is objected to. As pointed out in the Department's views appended to the report, the high figure could be attained only if other very specific conditions were also present. The total dollar amount quoted on page 110 describes a program involving training for a very highly skilled occupation and the full complement of supportive services. It strongly implies that the $5,200 quoted is available for the supportive services alone. [Subcommittee staff comment: Reprinted below is the section of the staff report which the Labor Department charged was misleading. It is a point by point listing of all items for which a JOBS contractor may be reimbursed, and it is correct exactly as published. The information was supplied by the Labor Department. It does not imply in any way that the maximum payment of $5,200 is for supportive services alone.] WAGES AND SERVICES FINANCED Under the latest contract, the MA-6 contract, the Government offers the following incentives under the JOBS program: The Government will pay one-half of a trainee's salary for a period of from 10 to 40 weeks, depending on the complexity of the job. The Government will pay the entire wage during periods when the trainee is receiving job-related basic education, counseling, and orientation. In addition, the Government will pay the full cost (up to certain established ceilings) of providing these services (job-related basic education, counseling, and orientation) plus the cost of: (a) Transportation assistance (b) Child care assistance (e) Medical and dental treatment, if necessary (d) Human relations training for the employer's supervisory personnel, plus an allowance for administrative costs. For these items, a firm with a JOBS contract could receive up to $5,213 per trainee. STATEMENT OF THE HON. GEORGE P. SHULTZ, SECRETARY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, ACCOMPANIED BY ARNOLD R. WEBER, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR MANPOWER Secretary SHULTZ. I welcome the opportunity to meet with you today to discuss the job opportunities in the business sector (JOBS) program-a cooperative effort undertaken by the Federal Government and private industry to provide employment for the Nation's disadvantaged workers. In my remarks, I first want to review the evolution of JOBS so that you may appreciate the important role it plays in our overall manpower program. Second, I want to spell out the considerable achievements under this program. Finally, I will candidly discuss those problems which do confront us in JOBS and indicate the steps that we are taking to deal with them. The JOBS program is not perfect, but its deficiencies are best addressed in the light of its development and achievements. I hope to provide this perspective here today. THE EVOLUTION OF JOBS As you know, our modern national manpower program began with the enactment of the Manpower Development and Training Act |