Talking Points of the President at a Luncheon for the National Alliance of Businessmen

1. A Vital Task.

--Hard-core unemployment:

• Destroys families;
• Deprives children of a decent house, a decent meal, a decent life;
• Is one of the major causes of civil disorders.

--Your task is to help find jobs for the 500,000 hard-core unemployed in the 50 largest cities.

2. Background.

--This program is an outgrowth of two things: (1) The recommendations made to me by a task force last summer• Two members of that task force are here today: Mr. Miller and Mr. Sonnabend. (2) The test program which we launched last October to find jobs in private industry for the hard-core in 5 large cities.
--From these two efforts we learned that:

• Business is willing to help;
• The job will not be easy, the hard-core will be difficult to motivate, to train, to keep on the job;
• The Government has a long way to go: to simplify its procedures, to cut red tape.

3. Why Private Industry?

--We turn to private industry for three reasons:

• Six out of every 7 jobs are in private enterprise;

• On the job training is the most effective program we have; 9 out of 10 people who go through those programs get jobs;

• American industry can do the job: It knows how to train people for the jobs on which its profits depend.

--We also turn to private industry because the alternative, "make work" programs, will cost far more and do far less for the individual and his family.
--And the situation is not like the 30's when "make work" programs were ( necessary.

• In 1935, 42 million Americans were employed, 10.6 million were unemployed and no jobs were being created by the economy;
• Today, 75 million Americans are at work, less than 3 million are unemployed and the economy is creating more than a million and a half jobs each year. It has created 7 1/2 million jobs in the last 4 years.

4. The Program.

--Our target is to put 100,000 men and women on the job by June 1969 and 500,00 by June 1971.
--For the first 18 months, we will devote $350 million to this program, $106 for the next 6 months, and $244 million for fiscal 1969.

5. How the Program Will Work.

--The Government will identify the unemployed.
--The company will train them and offer them jobs.
--The company will bear the normal cost of training as it would for any new employee.
--But the hard-core will need more. They will need additional training. Some will have to be taught to read and write, others will have health problems. They will need counseling.
--Where the private company agrees to provide these services, the Government will pay the extra costs. If the company does not wish to provide the services, the Government will.

6. Your Task: The Role of the National Alliance of Businessmen.

--Your job will be:

• To sell this program;
• To get private companies to agree to train and hire the hard-core;
• To advise me and the Secretaries of Labor and Commerce as to how this program can be improved, how we can cut Government red tape.

--The structure for the Alliance was outlined briefly in my message:

• You will serve as the executive committee, determining policy and developing guidelines for action;
• Eight of you will be regional representatives, responsible for the effective operation of the programs in each of the major cities in your regions;
• Fifty city representatives will be responsible for promoting the program in their cities. They will work through existing business councils or devise new mechanisms for involving the business sector in this urgent work,

--I want each of you who has agreed to be a regional representative to help in selecting the city representatives. They must be people whom you can work with and really get the job done.
--I want you to suggest some names to Henry Ford as soon as possible.
--I want each of you to designate a top official in your company who can work full-time on this program.

CONCLUSION

--I am deeply grateful for your willingness to accept this tremendous responsibility.
--I am deeply grateful that we have a man as able as Leo Beebe to work full-time on this program•
--I can assure you that you will receive the full support of this Government. The Departments of Labor and Commerce will give you all the help you need-including the people you will need to carry out this task
--I know you are busy and that it will be hard for you to devote a great deal of time to this effort. But this is a working group and as I said in the State of the Union Message "I know of no task before us of more importance to us, to the country, or to our future.