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Show 14,4iLitoAJAk:4--'itt- '.N7nn',W).,,,..,,,, .....14::,,...:,-,,- .,., z' i ..,,,,,t, - ,,. t, V.,..,In,frritit-WP- .,,, ' .,..,.4'91,rettlIPAHOMPW-rel4. :t,r..,.,1: ,X - ..":11.7.,...'''', v.,;,,,,,,11.N.,sAiNg"....t.',... . .;. ,),,,--s7.- 7- ''., - i;', :;' - ; .-; .- - ',''. 1,,171, 1.-- - - :s...t- "'..: , .; ,, - It'll. 7''',. - ",it,,.;;k - ,,,, .ru ot:i.,..- . - '' , '''' I , 'loo,' e ,r4 f ;;I;;I:i- I , k I , . , ,,,,,.., ;:, ,,r 7.4. ..2- - ... . - ,, . . ,- -; cer-,- !, : , r,PC.4, ,,,....7:, ;4.,.....,..,.....,5 z j,i-s- - ;,,,,,,..-:- - r ,, 11 t 9 II I ...4 f .. :: el , . . 0 . - , . . MAPC4 28- - COLJAL ..J , : . 4104t i.. " 17.1j:'' ., vo, i 4' , 49. ,,, ,,,.. i,o .. " 'i'l - , ,.. . .111:- , k .. ; - ':. . rt MARCN 27- - - L-...-.- California Democratic Rep. Augustus Hawkins has in- troduced legislation to guarantee every citizen a job as 44,.. . I tb i k N'tcr ' 1,,,,.. I ,....0.' - ..w L. '".:7-- ..MININAMINIMMIINIMME:110 a basic right, and he has been holding hearings around the country to build public support for the idea. Open to Discussion: WV , , or; QL4411.1 I 1k, g h ttt.:4t ,..9..... , 4,r,rt Li IP, - vogo a' o 1 iiiiki.'"' - na) 'Ill tiastki,lemi by Derek Norcross WASHINGTON, D.C. 1944, President Franklin Roosevelt said in a message to , Congress, "the right to useful and remunerative jobs" was the first principle of an "economic bill of rights." More than 30 years later, the official unemployment rate is over 8 percentmore than 7.5 million Americans are without jobs. Worse, the official rate understates the actual number of unemployed. Every month the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates unemployment based on a polling of 50,000 selected households. A person is defined as unemployed if he or she has been actively looking for work within the past lour weeks. Not counted are discouraged workers, those who've given up seeking a job in despair. Also not counted are persons on welfare. Part-tim-e jobholders are counted as fully employed. And the official statistics say little about the subemployed those with jobs that pay below the poverty line. One Congressional study found that the subemployment rate in t. n Jan. 11, some major cities such as Los Angeles or New York was over 30 percent. Why can't the richest nation in the world provide a decent job for all who want to work? to Prof. The answeraccording Bert Gross of City University of New Yorkis that the U.S. can provide jobs for all. "The problem," says Professor Gross, "is one of political will. The government certainly has the capacity to act." A waste of lives Back in 1945, Gross helped to draft Act which created the Murray-Wagnthe Council of Economic Advisers and was supposed to establish government machinery to implement FDR's Economic Bill of Rights. However, the bill was gutted by conservative forces led by Sen. Robert Taft Sr. (R., Ohio). It was changed from the Full Employment Act of 1946 to simply the Employment Act. The words "full employment" were changed to "maximum employment." The resultfor 30 years the country has tolerated varying levels of unemployment, thereby as the is being changroups such YMCA. California's headed by new administration, Gov. Edmund (Jerry) Brown, has innovative plans to combine CETA funds with welfare and unemployment money, thereby increasing the number of jobs available. The new administration also wants the Bureau of Labor Statistics to revise its definition of unemployment to more accurately reflect the situation of the jobless and working poor. I Job guarantce ' ,,v,,,t-- -- I - .., .. ....,.... 1 ACTION COMPLIANCE AFrIRMATiVE I ' 4, 4 - , ,,,- 41 - 'AND LULL ...' 1.1 , , ., . ;1;,,,,,. ,c,i , .., , tiii.4. UMPLOYM1N7 ; it -- :,..,,e.,,, . ... .,,try.,,,----4 , ,, CPPORTUNITY ',1.,,,t, 44':''.'''''''"---;151' ', . . ,. ' , i'-".- ,:,-,,,- ,,,,,,.1 yu,,,,,,.,,,...,,,,.,,,. ..,,,,....,r ,,,.,. HEARING i 1 .A .7'. ,04, . - ,,,,,,,1 .. ' tr., - - , 4! ,1 "'t;,71 ,:: EIMIKINS I CONGRESSMAN t-- 4 ., ' ..,,:7' N .,., el :i - Seattle, CETA money neled through it non-prof- ;Z."4, t ..404: - e.r 1 ,,,-- ,, ..1:tk 1 ' :411s, ,1444,4-4, ,,,,,, I i. A ..4k s. ''t ''''' ,,,A, .,....,..,i; r.:.'17:2".,:,t':,.. s 'VP,100, 4 i ic,,,,..4....,.................., . - .,- 1, .i, ' t.,.".."- - tc,' ,i -; ....,- ..;.. 1 4, , :.,, t." .'"', :," " '.. - - 45 ,.,ts v.,;,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,:.,,,Kmoroz,,,,,,ftr,: ,,.,,.I.7::::,..., 111,. r, irnr,--- t.4t,,,, :1.00fove,maA..Pow.......rtva.tInt,r,f, c, ''',.'"F.":..''.:1-6.7-- , , L wasting lives and resources. What can be done to really implement full employment? Hesitant steps were taken a few years ago. In 1971, Congress, under the Emergency Employment Act, established the Public Employment Program. PEP was reminiscent of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) of the '30's but on a much smaller scale. Between August, 1971, and June, 1973, PEP employed 404,000 persons. The Nixon Administration tried to end the program, but the Democratic Congress prevailed. Under Title II of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CITA) signed into law in December, 1973, funds were made available for PEP programs in areas with at least 6.5 percent unemployment. To date, the CETA job program has been successful at creating meaningful public service jobs, though not enough of them. San Francisco, for example, is using CETA funds to hire artists to decorate city buildings, and gardeners to offer classes to citizens in raising vegetables on home plots. In The most imaginative and proposal for creating jobs has come from Rep. Augustus Hawkins (D., Calif.), who represents the inner city of Los Angeles. in conjunction with Sen. Hubert Humphrey Minn.), Hawkins has introduceo ate Equal Opportunity and Full Employment Act. The bill, drafted by such experts as Professor Gross, would guarantee every American citizen a job as a basic right. Under the provisions of the bill, the President is required to submit to Congress each year a "Full Employment and National Purposes Budget." This will list domestic programs such as conservation, health-car- e delivery, housing, and mass transit, which need to be carried out and in which public employees can find meaningful work. Newly created Job Guarantee offices in local areas around the country would administer public and private employment projects to the extent required to reach full employment. Full employment is defined by the bill as "a situation under which there are useful and rewarding employment opportunities for all adult Americans willing and able to work." Hawkins' hearings Representative Hawkins admits the bill is visionarybut he believes that if economic conditions worsen, support for the bill will grow. Hawkins is currently holding subcommittee hearings on the bill in cities around the country. Advocates of the bill point out that full employment would bring many side benefits. The crime rate would drop. Mental health would improve. Expenditures for welfare, food stamps, and unemployment benefits would drop. Jobs created in health, education, ecology, transit and other domestic fields would improve the quality of life. Opponents of the full employment concept believe that some rate of joblessness is the price Americans pay for the benefits of the free enterprise system. I I 23 |
