Dublin Core
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
July 25, 1969
‘Mr. Arnold R. Weber
Assistant Secretary for Manpower
‘U. S. Department of Labor ;
Washington, D. C. 20210
Dear Mr. Weber:
Thank you for giving the Urban Coalition Action Council
the opportunity to comment on the second draft of the General
Description of the Public Service Careers Program.
The Urban Coalition Action Council strongly advocates an
extensive public service employment pregram. At its Emergency
Convocation in August 1967, the Coalition called for the creation
of one million jobs in the public sector at the earliest possible
moment. The Convocation Statement urged that a public service
- employment program should contain certain essentials such as:
1) An extensive program at all levels to assure that
meaningful and productive work is available to everyone
Willing and able to work;
2) Funds for employment to local and state governments,
and nonprofit institutions able to demonstrate their
ability to use labor productively;
-3) Operations keyed to specified localized unemployment
problems and focused initially on those areas where
need is most apparent. —
As we have studied the Department of Labor proposed Public
Service Careers Program, we find that your analysis of the present
employment picture is in basic accord with the Coalition's. The -
concept of Public Service Careers has merit, but the main short-
comings are in the implementation. Therefore, we offer the
following comments in the hope that you might see fit to broaden
your proposal.
1) In not providing for wage supplementation, the program
fails to realistically face the present financial crisis
of most of our cities. Although cities desperately need
more people to fill public service jobs, they neverthe-
less lack the financial resources to add these individuals
to existing payrolls. The Action Council considers wage
supplementation an essential ingredient and would urge
7/25/69
its addition to the final draft. Without wage
‘Supplementation, we believe the program is marked
for failure.
We would strongly favor a more extensive program,
The $50 million appropriation is so small as to be
ineffectual. If we read page 30 correctly, the present
allocation is only $28-million of fresh money, as some
‘funds were already budgeted for New Careers in fiscal
year 1970. The need for such an employment program far
exceeds the approximate 17,500 jobs that would be
provided. :
Clearly the program is experimental in nature. It is the
Action Council's position that we are beyond the experi-
mental stage. There is already an excellent precedent
in the JOBS program for the hire-first an@ train-later
concept. Relying on Department of Labor and National
Alliance of Businessmen statistics, it would appear that
the concept and program have been well received. The
“practical effect of such experimentation will delay
moving toward an extensive, well-funded program in the >
public service career area. S .
. ‘We would welcome the opportunity to ieee with you to amplify
any of our comments.
Sincerely,
Lowell R. Beck
*" Executive Director