Jobs for the Hardcore Unemployed Announcement of Administration Programs.

The White House announced today that, for the first time, five Federal agencies and departments have agreed to fill a specific percentage of the jobs created by their economic development programs with the hardcore unemployed. Under these agreements reached through the White House Interagency Coordinating Council, headed by Presidential Assistant Jack Watson, approximately 80,000 permanent, private sector jobs will be made available to the unemployed through economic development projects funded in FY 1980.

The five agencies entering into this agreement with the Department of Labor (DOL) are: the Economic Development Administration (EDA), the Community Services Administration (CSA), the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA). Their efforts to direct a greater number of jobs created by Federal economic development programs to the hardcore unemployed are central to the employment initiatives announced by the White House last April. These initiatives are among the President's administrative actions aimed at the persistent problem of high unemployment in both rural and urban areas.

Programs covered by the agreements include HUD's $675 million Urban Development Action Grant program, for which a 10-percent employment goal has been established; EDA's proposed $3 billion (including $1.8 billion in loan guarantees) public works and business development activities, with a 10- to 15-percent goal; the Urban Mass Transportation Administration's new $200 million ($80 million appropriated by Congress) Urban Initiatives program, with a 10- to 15-percent goal; CSA's $35 million title VII program, with a 25-percent goal; and FMHA's $1.2 billion Business and Industrial Loan program, with a 20-percent goal.

In addition to the 80,000 private sector jobs that will result from this agreement, approximately 100,000 private sector jobs will be made available to the hardcore unemployed under the new Private Sector Initiatives program of the recently reenacted Comprehensive Employment and Training Act. This effort is also consistent with the President's goals of targeting Federal resources to those with the greatest need and utilizing existing programs and resources more effectively.

The White House also announced that 14 local jurisdictions will receive 2-year grants, under the Targeted Jobs Demonstration program, to link already funded economic development projects with Federal employment and training efforts. The demonstration program is another component of the President's Employment Initiatives. Funded at $3 million, the demonstration program is an interagency effort involving DOL, HUD, EDA, CSA, DOT, and the Small Business Administration.

Fund recipients under the program are Portland, Oreg., Buffalo, N.Y., New York City, Seattle, Wash., Browning, Mont., San Antonio, Tex., Metcalfe, Miss., Portland, Maine, Wilmington, Del., Milwaukee, Wis., Paterson, N.J., Lynn, Mass., Genesee County, Mich., and Philadelphia, Pa. Each recipient is to develop practical and effective strategies for placing the hardcore unemployed in the greatest feasible number of jobs created by Federal economic development and transit-related activities. Techniques will be explored to ensure that a maximum number of the business opportunities which result from economic development and transit projects go to small, minority, and community businesses. An interagency work group will monitor the demonstration effort, and HUD has lead administrative responsibility.