Youth Employment Programs Message to the Congress Outlining Programs as Part of the Economic Recovery Package.

To the Congress of the United States:

As part of the economic recovery package I sent to Congress on January 31, I requested $1.5 billion, to be spent over an 18-month period, for new youth unemployment programs.

This reflected my concern about continued high unemployment rates among our young people. Unemployment for those between the ages of 16 and 19 is now 18.5 percent, and a total of 3.4 million people aged 16 to 24 are out of work.

Today I wish to outline the programs we intend to begin as soon as these funds are made available. They include proposals developed in the Congress. Under the wide discretion granted by Title III of CETA, we are able to begin these programs without additional legislation. But because I believe that full Congressional participation is essential for projects of this magnitude, I will soon present to the Congress my request for specific authorizing legislation.

Although a wide variety of agencies have programs for unemployed youth, most are carried out by the Department of Labor. During Fiscal Year 1976, some two million young people took part in programs under the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act. These included:

--160,000 in public service jobs

--500,000 in work experience programs

--200,000 in on-the-job and classroom training programs

--40,000 in the Job Corps

--1,135,000 in the Summer Neighborhood Youth Corps programs.

We are recommending two changes in these ongoing efforts:

First, an increase of $342 million for the Job Corps, which will double the program, and

Second, a one-year extension of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act, which was made law in 1973 and expires this year. CETA established a new system under which states and local communities are responsible for planning and operating their own employment and training programs. I have asked the Congress for this one-year extension to give us time to review the program and consider what steps would make it most responsive to the problems of the unemployed.

Beyond these changes, we must take a broad look at Federally-funded employment and training programs for our young people. My Administration is now proposing three new initiatives, developed in consultation with Congressional leaders, which we can begin under current legislative authority but for which we will

seek a specific legislative mandate.

First--A National Youth Conservation Corps, similar to the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930's. This would be administered by the Department of Labor through agreements with the Agriculture and Interior Departments and on State park and forestry lands. The Youth Conservation Centers would employ young Americans aged 16 to 24 in conservation programs and in the maintenance and improvement of public parks, forests and recreation areas. We plan to spend $350 million over the next 18 months for 35,000 jobs under this plan.

Second--Youth Community Conservation and Improvement Projects, developed by State and local government would employ those aged 16 to 19 in well planned, well-supervised projects of obvious local benefit. Funds would be available for needed supplies and equipment. Projects would include improving neighborhoods and communities and maintaining and restoring natural resources on publicly owned land. Rural as well as urban governments would be eligible; both would submit applications to the Department of Labor through the CETA system. We would concentrate these projects where the need was greatest, but they would be open to all unemployed youth. Between now and October of 1979 [1978] we plan to spend a total of $250 million for 30,000 jobs.

Third--Comprehensive Youth, Employment and Training Programs, through the CETA system to enlist a full range of employment services in states and local communities to provide young people with jobs and training.

As with our current CETA program community-based organizations and other local agencies would be eligible to operate job programs.

This plan would be aimed at disadvantaged or low-income Americans between the ages of 16 and 21 who are out of school and out of work.

Half the funds would be allocated to the 466 prime sponsors under the CETA system. The allocation formula would be. based on the unemployment rate and proportion of poor people in each area.

The other half of these funds would be used by the Secretary of Labor to encourage innovative and experimental programs. Three-quarters of the money would be spent through the CETA system on the basis of applications to the Secretary. These applications would be judged by the standards of local need, program quality, and the prime sponsor's record. The Secretary would use the rest of the money to carry out and test innovative projects.

We are planning to spend $900 million for 138,000 such jobs.

While implementation can proceed promptly under the existing authority of Title III of CETA by April 1 of this year I will submit to the Congress a new title to the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act, embodying these three new youth initiatives. In developing this legislation I have directed the Secretary of Labor to work with interested members of Congress and the public.

In March 1933 in a message to Congress proposing the Civilian Conservation Corps, President Roosevelt said: "It (the C.C.C.) will conserve our precious natural resources. It will pay dividends to the present and future generations .... We can eliminate to some extent at least the threat that enforced idleness brings to spiritual and moral stability. It is not a panacea for all the unemployment but it is an essential step..."

It is in that spirit that I send this message to Congress on our youth employment programs.

JIMMY CARTER

The White House,

March 9, 1977.