Labor Secretary Marshall Addresses Black Youth Unemployment at 1978 Annual LDF Institute

    307 

—\ JOHN H. FILER 
National Campaign Chairman 
JOHN RICCARDO 

ve B Chairman 
x > SS National Corporate Committee 

WILLIAM T. COLEMAN, JR 
Chairman of the Board 

SS Xs NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND. ING.* — juLIUS L. CHAMBERS 

oO 806 15th Street, NW. = HEADQUARTERS 12 Geary Street are acest 
Washington, D.C.20006 San Francisco, CA.94108 = 

(202) 638-3278 10-Columbus Circle (415) 788-8736 Director-Counsel 
New York, N.Y.10019 

(212) 586-8397 

@ ag 
P Lega 

52nd Str 

Press wishing to attend 

The Institute 
Court de 
ich decla 

Contributions are deductible for U.S. income tax purposes 
*The NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. (LOF) is not a part of the National Association for the Advancement of 
Colored People although it was founded by that organizationand shares its commitment to equal rights. LDF hashad for 20 yearsa sep 
arate Board of Directors, program, staff, office and budget 



NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. 

and = 10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019.» (212) 586-8397 

LABOR SECRETARY MARSHALL TO 
ADDRESS BLACK UNEMPLOYMENT 
ISSUE AT NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE 
FUND 1978 INSTITUTE IN NEW YORK 

Note to Editors: The NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL 
FUND, INC. (LDF) is not a part of 
the National Association for the 
Advancement of Colored People although 
it was founded by that organization 
and shares its commitment to equal rights. 

TO: Labor Editor For Information: (212) 586-8397 
Anne Dowling or 
Faythe Weaver 

The Carter Administration's response to its major 

domestic crisis resulting from soaring unemployment 

among young minority people and the role of a private 

civil rights organization in devising solutions to 

the problem will be the subject of LDF's 1978 Institute. 

U.S. Labor Secretary Ray Marshall, whose Department 

administers the Comprehensive Employment and Training 

Act (CETA) and the 1967 Youth Employment and Demonstration 

Act both of which pour millions of federal dollars 

into education and employment, will be guest speaker 

at the Institute lunch. 

Time: Noon 

Date: May 16, 1978 

Place: Georgian Room 
Americana Hotel 
52nd Street & Seventh Avenue 

(MORE) 

Contributions are deductible for U.S. income tax purposes 



Following the lunch is a panel discussion with 

the following participants: 

Ms. Harriet Michel, Director, Office of Community 
Youth Employment Programs, U.S. Dept. of Labor 

Dr. Carl D. Gregory, Professor of Economics and 
Management, Oakland University; Managing Director, 
Carl D. Gregory & Associates 

Ms. Phyllis McClure, Division of Legal Information 
and Community Services, Legal Defense Fund 

MODERATOR: Graham S. Finney, President, Corporation 
for Public/Private Ventures 

Time: 2:E5iep.m. 

Place: Regency Room 

The Institute is held every year on or about 

the Anniversary of the Brown decision (May 17, 1954), 

the most famous of the School Segregation Cases won 

by LDF in the Supreme Court. 

END 



o 
United States 

Department 
of Labor’ 

Washington, D.C. 2021 o 
aac 37 USOL_73_. 258 

FOR RELEASE: 

So
ia
te
d 

it is a deep honor 

Fore than any other organization to end racial Segregation is 

I know the fight is far from over. I know that it 4s hot tine to rest on 

Our leurels. But every once in a while I like to take a deen breath acd reflect 

on how far we have core in the less than quarter of a century since 

Brown v, Board of Education, 

One of my favorite indications of how times have chanzed WES B 

Vittle item that ren in the Wal) Street Journal Shortly after J becare 

ecretary of Labor. The article talked about my athointrent of Ernie Green 

as Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training. Ernie, as neny of you 

know, was one of the handful of students who integrated Little Rock Kigh School. 

The item contrasted the appointment of Ernie Green with the decision of 

Orville Faubus to take a job as a bank teller because he was heving trouble 

woking ande mant 



Despite the vast changes that were triesered by the civil rights rave- 

rent, there is stil} some truth to that old French saying, "The gore things 

change, the rere they remein the sa 

has 
It is with an intense sense of deja_vu thet most. of ny tire today 54 been 

sent worrying about a ate filibuster, He all know the role that the 

filibuster played during the 1950's ard 1960's as 2 way for an embattled -- 

» in retrospect, a thoroughly discredited -- winority to delay the pesseoc o 

nheeced civil rights legisiation. At the time, many of us said that never 

asain would we allow a minority to tie uw the Senate through this kind of 

dilatory tactic. 

Tines chanced and issues chanced, Some liberals became interested in 

the filibuster es a way to block legislation that th y didn't Tike. Keanwhile, we 

managed to reduce the number of Senators meeded to invoke cloture. But the 

filibuster lived on as those who battled it in the past turned their attention 

elserbere. 

Today marks the beginning of Senate debate on labor law reform, It is clear 

that the majority of the Senate wants to approve this legislation that passed 

the House by alrost a 10%vote margin. Polls indicate thet a tajority of 

keericans approve of this effort to protect the rights of workers to decide 

whether or not they want unfon representation, 



The only thing standing in the way of Senate passece of this import 

lecistation is a filibuster. While = i9t normally presen 

Tabor law reform is, in effect, a civil rights measure. Like civi] rights 

legislation, it is designed to protect the powerless ecainst tre cowerful. 

Its purpose is to protect those at the Bottom of the 

those who find it more convenient to disobey the lew then obey it. 

When union organizers are thrarted by ijlecal tactics, it 4s often black 

giced by high-priced lawyers, often engege in filibuster-‘ike tactics to 

delay and deny union representation elections. I don't have io tell you how 

jestructive it is to the fabric of society to have rights that are queranteed 

in theory, but denied if practice. 

These should be familiar themes to the AAC? Lecal Sefense Fund. Much of 

the progress of the last generation has come throush the alliance of the 

civil rights movement and the labor movement. Labar unions have proven to 

be a major force in the battle to give black workers ecgronic ot ity in our 

society. In the building trades, for example, about trenty percent of the 

new apprentices are blacks and other minorities. 



Ae 

think we have the votes to invoke cloture and pass labor law reform. 

this fight sfould rentnd us of the angers tit] 

by the filibuster. The whole legislative process is stymied « 

can thrart the will of the ority. And, sosehow the filibuster alvays 

becomes the weapon when the issue is protecting the rights of the poxer! 

Cn another topic, I would like to mention an issue that, at rst glance, 

seems far removed from the concerns of the NAACP Lecal Defense Fund. That issu 

ts President Carter's proposal to reform the civil service systen. 

For the last 16 months, I have been e soverrment administrator and I 

seen all the ways in which the inflexibilities of the current syste: stand in 

the way of efficient and effective goverment. It may be called the merit 

System, but, in practice, a1) too often it works to reward mediocrity and to 

stifle initiative and responsibility. 

There ts a reacen why I think tifs issue is relevant to our rutual concerns 

this afternoon. Ne are in an era 



pak IP 

when fiscal realities limit the funds that are available for domestic programs. 

This places an important responsibility on all of us in the Administraticn to 

spend what money i$ available as effectively as possible. 

Soxetines, the government's personnel policies stand in the way of this 

kind of € tiveness. There are parts of the Labor Ocrartre for exerple, 

that desperately cry out for fresh blood end new approaches. But the realities 

of the current civil service system place severe limit “ fed I + > wy et fa) ov oe a ° =] i rad
 

co 

I believe tha @ we have working in the Labor Bepartrent 

are dedicated and competent. But we have evolved a system that iy P revents their 

being used e Unless the system is changed, while guaranteeing fair- 

ness and equity, we 31] lose. Dedicated Federal workers lose a vi ct oe fa o “4 © w 

transformed into uni e-servers. Goverresent acninistrators jose as 

they are frustrated in their efforts to brir + ebout change. And, the people 

served by government proorars suffer throuch mediocrity ang wasted resources. 

That's why we need civil service reforn. 

One issue that continues to concern ne is-- the evol 

Stratifications within the black community. it is abundantly clea : ie 2 . oy
 

large nisber of blacks have benefitted greatly from the prez 

15 years. These are blacks who are entering law and medice] schools. These 

are blacks who are prospering in careers and trades which would have been closed 

to them a generation 290. We have gone beyond tokenism. But there is stil? a 

sizeable segrent of the black cocramity who have been left behind and often 

forgotten. 

These are the blacks and other minorities who you dos't hear about 

except once a month when the unemployment rate is announced. Ome of the major 

accomplishments of the Carter Adainistration has been the dramstic drop in the 

unemployment rate over the Jast 18 months, Unemployment wes 8.0 percent on 



-§= 

election day 1976, today it is 6.0 percent. But the drop in black unemployment 

has been far less dramatic and this problem continues toe concern us. 

It is impossible ta be complacent about unemployment when 35.3 percent 

of black teenagers are jobless and almost 10 percent of black adults are in 

the same category, even though this is better than the 40 percent jobless rate 

for black teenagers last summer. The realities behind these statistics are 

causing oe staid steps to target our jobs aad treining ee 2 "oese a 

most in need. The Youth Employment and Demonstration Projects Act, which 

passed Congress last summer, should have a considerable effect on black teen-age 

unemployment. 

Before I discuss these programs in more detail, I would like to indicate 

that I believe we have made more progress in the battle against black unemploy- 

ment than the aggregate numbers sight indicate. 

There are now 700,000 more blacks with Jobs today than there were 2 

year ago. In April 1977, the retio of blacks with jobs to the black yvorcing 

age population was 50.9 percent. Today, it is at 53.0 percent. There have 

been similar gains in terms of black Tabor force participation. One reason 

=. the unemployment rate for blacks has not dropped more rapidly is the large 

number of blacks now looking for work who had left the Tabor force a year 

or two ago out of discouragement. 

Figures jike these should not be used to deny that we still have a 

serious problem. But the trend represented hy these figures indicates that 

the vastly expanded commitment of the Carter Adwinistration to jobs and training 

programs fs being felt in the black commmity. Throughout the first half of 

1977, black unemployment was rising as white unemployment was falling. Fora 

while, these figures provided telling evidence that when it came to jobs we 

Still had two separate, and unequal Americas. 



But there has been a strong reversal ia the various indices of black 

unemployment in the last eight months. Gre hundred thousands additional blacks 

found jobs between March and April of this year. The expansion of our public 

Service jobs program has made a significant contribution to the growth of black | 

employment in the Tast eight months. ‘hile not solving the probier, these 

figures provide strong evidence that we are on the right track. - 

Currently, the Congress 1S considering legislation that would éxtend 

the last year te find ways to further improve our fobs and training programs. 

Aa important element in this program is “targeting“--which is bureaucratic 

short-hand for aiming our programs at those groups who need help the most. 

The CETA program began as an effort to help Amarica recover from the 

last recession. At first, the eligibility requirements were loose and many 

of the jobs went to those who could have easi ty‘ found emloyment ia a normal 

econony. President Carter's Econowric Stimulus Package not only expanded this 

program but ft also took significant steps to target CETA on the disadvantaged 

and the long-term unemployed. CETA reauthorization will carry this process 

: further and enable us to reach disadvantaged blacks who have Tost hope of 

ever sharing in the fruits of our economy. rs 

Many of the unemployment problems of specific groups in our economy 

are small enough to be highly manageable. Black teenagers represent a prime 

‘example. Although they have a shockingly high unemployment rate, their nusbers 

are relatively small. Today, there are about 350,000 unemployed black teenagers 

in the entire country. When fully implemented our new youth programs alone 

will provide jobs and training opportunities for about 150,000 young workers. Your 

Glso will participate in cur other employment and training programs. Many oo 

the participants in these programs will be blacks and other minorities. It 

doesn't take very elaborate mental arithmetic to sense what a potential ispact 



“@ 28 - 

these programs will have om black teen-age uneap loyment. 

For a Tong time, feerica did not address tts social problems because 

we lacked the will. During the 1960's we developed the will, but often failed 

because we did nat know how to effectively use our resources. Today, when it 

comes to jobs, I think we have both the commitment and the capacity. ‘And, I 

believe that at the end of our years the results will be striking. ~ 

~~ Thank- yous