Table Of Contentp
V
S. HRG. 103-^75
THE SCHOOL-TO-WORK OPPORTUNITIES ACT OF
993
1
Y 4.L 11/4: S. HRG. 103-475
The School-to-Uork Opportunities ftc...
HEARINGS
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE,ON EMPLOYMENT AND
PRODUCTIVITY
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON
LABOR AND HUMAN RESOURCES
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
ON
S. 1361
TO ESTABLISH A NATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF
SCHOOL-TO-WORK OPPORTUNITIES SYSTEMS IN ALL STATES, AND
FOR OTHER PURPOSES
SEPTEMBER 28 AND OCTOBER 14, 1993
Printed for the use of the Committee on Labor and Human Resources
JUIV2
7
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 199*
77-136CC WASHINGTON : 1994
ForsalebytheU.S.GovernmentPrintingOffice ^MO
Pftfi
SuperintendentofDocuments.Congressional SalesOffice.Washington.DC 20402
ISBN 0-16-044040-8
S. HRG. 103-475
THE SCHOOL-TO-WORK OPPORTUNITIES ACT OF
993
1
Y4.L
11/4: S. HRG. 103-475
The SchooI-to-Uork Opportunities Ac.
HEARINGS
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON EMPLOYMENT AND
PRODUCTIVITY
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON
LABOR AND HUMAN RESOURCES
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
ON
S. 1361
TO ESTABLISH A NATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF
SCHOOL-TO-WORK OPPORTUNITIES SYSTEMS IN ALL STATES, AND
FOR OTHER PURPOSES
SEPTEMBER 28 AND OCTOBER 14, 1993
Printed for the use of the Committee on Labor and Human Resources
JUN2
7
m<,
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
77-136CC WASHINGTON : 1994
^CtagiWHi
ForsalebytheU.S.GovernmentPrintingOffice fO/Jfyr**
SuperintendentofDocuments.Congressional SalesOffice,Washington.DC 20402
ISBN 0-16-044040-8
COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND HUMAN RESOURCES
EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts, Chairman
CLAIBORNE PELL, Rhode Island NANCY LANDON KASSEBAUM, Kansas
HOWARD M. METZENBAUM, Ohio JAMES M. JEFFORDS, Vermont
CHRISTOPHERJ. DODD, Connecticut DAN COATS, Indiana
PAUL SIMON, Illinois JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire
TOM HARKIN, Iowa STROM THURMOND, South Carolina
BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah
JEFF BINGAMAN, New Mexico DAVE DURENBERGER, Minnesota
PAUL D. WELLSTONE, Minnesota
HARRIS WOFFORD, Pennsylvania
NICK Littlefield, StaffDirectorand ChiefCounsel
SUSAN K. HATTAN, Minority StaffDirector
Subcommittee on Employment and Productivity
PAUL SIMON, Illinois, Chairman
TOM HARKIN, Iowa STROM THURMOND, South Carolina
BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland DAN COATS, Indiana
JEFF BINGAMAN, New Mexico JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire
HARRIS WOFFORD, Pennsylvania ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah
EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts NANCY LANDON KASSEBAUM, Kansas
(Ex Officio) (Ex Officio)
BRIAN KENNEDY, ChiefCounsel and StaffDirector
TODD AtwatER, Minority Counsel
(ID
CONTENTS
STATEMENTS
Tuesday, September 28, 1993
Page
Hatfield, Hon. Mark 0., a U.S. Senatorfromthe State ofOregon 1
Simon, Hon. Paul, a U.S. Senator fromtheState ofIllinois 7
Wofford, Hon. Harris, a U.S. Senatorfromthe State ofPennsylvania 9
Riley, Richard, SecretaryofEducation, U.S, Department ofEducation
Thurmond, Hon. Strom, aU.S. Senator fromthe StateofSouth Carolina 14
Durenberger, Hon. Dave, a U.S. Senator fromtheStateofMinnesota 14
Pell, Hon. Claiborne, aU.S. Senator fromtheState ofRhode Island 17
Reich, Robert, SecretaryofLabor, U.S. DepartmentofLabor 18
Dow, Jr., John, president, National Academy Foundation, New York, NY;
Ellen R. Williams, senior vice president, American Express Co., New York,
NY; Michelle Yhap, senior, Richmond Hill High School, New York, NY;
andRichard Graziano, director, AcademyofTravel and Tourism, andteach-
er, NewYork CityPublicSchools, New York, NY 23
Adler, Laurel, superintendent, East San Grabiel Valley Regional Occupational
Program, West Covins, CA;RobertT.Jones, corporate consultant, Washing-
ton, DC; and Linda G. Morra, Director, Education and Employment Issue
Area, Human Resource Division, U.S. General Accounting Office; accom-
paniedbyNoemi Friedlander andSigurdR. Nilsen 34
STATEMENTS
Thursday, October 14, 1993
Simon, Hon.Paul, aU.S. SenatorfromtheState ofIllinois 43
Durenberger, Hon. Dave, aU.S. Senatorfromthe State ofMinnesota 44
Todd, Bruce, Mayor, Austin, TX, and Edward Pauly, senior research associ-
ate, ManpowerDemonstration Research Corp., NewYork, NY 47
Kolberg, Bill, cochair, Business Coalition on Workforce Development, Wash-
ington, DC; Rudy Oswald, director, Department of Economic Research,
American Federation of Labor, Washington, DC; Paul Cole, member, Task
Force on School-To-Work Transition, American Federation ofTeachers, Al-
bany,NY; andThomas Musser, Tri-M Corp., Kennett Square, PA 58
Mikulski, Hon. BarbaraA., aU.S. Senator fromthe StateofMaryland 69
Davidson, Kirsten, Trans Cen, Inc., Rockville, MD, accompanied by Carolyn
Post; David Johnson, National Transition Network, University of Min-
nesota, Minneapolis, MN; Paul Weckstein, co-director, Center for Law and
Education, Washington, DC; Donna Milgram, director, Nontraditional Em-
ployment Training Project, Wider Opportunities for Women, Washington,
DC; and Richard Apling, specialist in social legislation, Congressional Re-
searchService, Washington, DC 70
APPENDIX
Articles, publications, letters, etc.:
Statements: —
Richard W. Riley and Robert B. Reich Responses to questions of Sen-
ators Simon and Durenberger
John Dow,Jr - 93
EllenRandolph Williams 95
(III)
IV
Page
—
Statements Continued
LaurelAdler 96
RobertT. Jones 98
Linda G. Morra 99
Bruce Todd 104
EdwardPauly 105
William H. Kolberg Ill
Rudy Oswald 115
Paul Cole 121
W.ThomasMusser 123
CarolynPost andKirsten Davidson 124
David.R. Johnson 124
DonnaMilgram 128
Paul Weckstein 135
RichardApling 139
Lawrence Perlman 142
NationalEducation Association 144
John E.Jacob 146
Gordon Raley 147
JohnAustin 149
International BrotherhoodofTeamsters 154
Girls Incorporated 156
Erik Beyer 159
Nancye M. Combs 160
Stephen Denby 164
JamesF. Clayborne,Jr 166
GASCTechnology Center 174
Letters:
To Jon Schroeder, office of Senator Durenberger, from Tom Triplett,
executive director, Minnesota Business Partnership, dated Aug. 30,
1993 176
To Senator Durenberger, from Minnesota Business Partnership, dated
Sept. 28, 1993 178
THE SCHOOL-TO-WORK OPPORTUNITIES ACT
OF 1993
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1993
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee on Employment and Productivity,
Committee on Labor and Human Resources,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:06 p.m., in room
SD-430, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Senator Paul Simon
(chairman ofthe subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Senators Simon, Pell, Wofford, and Thurmond.
Senator Simon. The hearing will come to order.
My apologies first ofall to the Secretaries and my colleague Sen-
ator Hatfield. I will postpone making my own opening statement
here, because we are going to be facing a couple of votes in about
a half hour on the floor of the Senate. And if the two Secretaries
do not object too strenuously, I am going to call on my colleague
Senator Hatfield first for an opening statement.
We are pleased to have him as a cosponsor ofthis legislation and
pleased to have you here as a witness.
STATEMENT OF THE HON. MARK O. HATFIELD, AU.S.
SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF OREGON
Senator Hatfield. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Senator
Durenberger.
First, I consider it a distinct honor to be in company with the
Secretary of Education and the Secretary of Labor. And I want to
say that Secretary Riley and Secretary Reich certainly are giving
tremendous leadership in an area that is badly needed in this
country.
Mr. Chairman. I would like to have my full statement placed i.n
the record, and then I will highlight it.
Senator Simon. We will enter it in the record.
Senator Hatfield. Mr. Chairman, as you know, the United
States is the only industrialized country in the world that lacks a
comprehensive system to help our young people learn the knowl-
edge, skills, abilities and information to move into the labor market
and to be an effective person in that labor market for a career in
that labor market.
Now, lest one identify this as purely an educational problem, it
is not. This is now a global matter. It is not just a local, State or
national issue alone. It is a global issue, because being the only Na-
tion that does not have this kind of system or network, we are not
maintaining a competitive role in the world marketsplace.
(1)
—
I would like to also focus on the fact that most of our educational
programs in the secondary level are geared to the so-called college
prep. When I launched the community college system in my State
many years ago, I took notice ofthe educational snobbery that had
grown up to infect our curriculum at the secondary level, so that
those who were not preparing to go to college would end up in "the
shop" in the back ofthe high school I attended. Ours was as brick
building and the shop was as grav cement building looking some-
what like a prison. Tnat was the kind of delineation we made and
we have not changed that much over the years.
Yet, when you consider that only 15 percent of those who enter
college today in Americ—a complete the baccalaureate program and
take even, say, 6 years rather than i—n just a 4-year period, the so-
called normal period of matriculation -but for a 6-year period fol-
lowing high school, and then you look at the other end ofthat scale
and you find that people today in America, adults in their late 20's,
the statistic that I have seen most recently is that 50 percent of
the adults in their late 20's have not yet found steady jobs. So I
think we ought to not only look at this problem from the human
point ofview, but also the domestic economic, and global.
I want to also indicate that in my full statement I have outlined
the so-called Oregon program that has taken some very bold steps
to try to correct this problem, and we have, a rich history in at-
tempting to address the problem faced by the noncollege-bound stu-
dent and their educational opportunities.
Let met also indicate that the legislation that we have before us
does focus on the noncollege-bound student, and it also takes some
very major steps in taking the whole political system and reviewing
the regulatory parts of the Federal system as it relates to States
and local governments.
If the Senator recalls, I have sponsored the so-called Edflex bill,
which will give more flexibility in the educational institutions. I am
glad to see that this same feature is a part of this bill that I am
honored to cosponsor of this bill under the requests of the Sec-
retary ofLabor and the Secretary ofEducation.
I think we also understand that this bill increases our focus the
on interdependence between the educational programs and the
labor market or the interdependence of those two, from school to
job transition, and that to me is the guts ofthe whole matter.
Recently, I had the GAO launch a study that I hope will be com-
pleted shortly on the—overlapping and duplication among the 151
Mr. Chairman, 151 education and training programs currently
run by 14 different agencies ofthe Federal Government.
With our timber workers in great distress in my part ofthe coun-
try, we are especially aware ofthese programs and the multiplicity,
the overlapping, and this bill I think does much to at least bring
a sharper focus to the Federal role.
I would like to also make a comparison on the practicality of the
current labor force in the market. Mr. Chairman, this is not a bill
that is total. This bill is a major step, a giant step, but there are
parts of this bill that I hope maybe we can modify or at least add
to, which will address the current labor force.
Let me delineate between the bill's focus ofthe prospective labor
force and what we face today in the current labor force. To best il-
lustrate that point, today the Japanese worker in the automobile
assembly business, he gets 315.5 hours oftraining as a newly hired
automobile worker. That compares to 45.7 hours in the United
States. So we are even at this very moment falling behind in the
competitiveness for efficiency and high skills.
Last year, Senator Kennedy and I introduced a bill which was
the result ofthe study made by former Secretary ofLabor Marshall
under President Carter and former Secretary of Labor Brock under
President Reagan. The bill that we introduced was the High-Skills
Competitive Workforce Act of 1991.
One point that I want to make in raising that bill at this time
is that it is not low wages that will determine the profits for Amer-
ican industry to become more competitive in the world market, not
lower wages, but higher skills. Because we are still following the
Taylor model of our business industrial life in this country, we
must divest ourselves of that approach of the small elite of man-
agers and a whole workforce out there on the front lines saying,
in effect, the only way we increase productivity is to do that routine
faster, faster, and faster.
Well, that is not the answer. The rest of the world has found it.
We have not found it yet. And I would refer that bill to you to be
considered on the matter of bringing higher skills of the current
workforce in order to be more competitive.
One last point is that we find today some alarming statistics of
what is happening to our labor force, the current labor force, and
that is from the National Center on Education and the Economy.
Since 1969, they have studied and found that earnings have fallen
12 percent, the wage earnings. Furthermore, the income of our top
30 percent of earners have increased, while the other 70 percent
have spiraled downward and a lot of those have plummeted down-
ward, and that division between our economic society, in my view,
is another serious issue we must address.
I want to again say thank you for permitting me to testify here
today. I want to indicate to you that o—n our appropriat—ions bill that
we now have on the floor, Labor-HHS education bill we have in-
cluded, Mr. Chairman, $100 million in anticipation of this commit-
tee's action on this bill in order to launch this initiative under the
leadership ofSecretary Reich and Secretary Riley.
Thank you very much for the privilege to testify.
[The prepared statement ofSenator Hatfield follows:]
Prepared Statement of Senator Hatfield
Mr. Chairman: I thank you and the members of this subcommit-
tee for the opportunity to appear before you to discuss S. 1361, the
School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1993.
For years, I have been deeply concerned that America is address-
ing the requirements ofits workforce in the wrong way. Today, the
vast majority of this nation's companies divide complex jobs into a
myriad of simple repetitive tasks performed by mostly ill-prepared
or under-educated front-line workers. Under this "Tayloristic" sys-
tem, workers are directed by a small,well educated, highly com-
pensated, group of managers and supervisors who make virtually
all the decisions and solve all the problems for the entire company.
Regrettably, we have become so over dependent on this small
cadre of decision makers and managers that our ability to increase
our quality and variety of products, processes and services is di-
minishing. Therefore, our capacity to adapt to new consumer needs
in this global economy and sustain a high standard of living has
suffered. If we continue to ignore our front-line workers' abilities,
I believe that our folly ultimately will relegate us to second class
status in the global marketplace.
According to the Commission on the Skills of the American
Workforce: "the world is prepared to pay high prices and high
wages for quality, variety and responsiveness to changing
consumer tastes." If we are to continue as the world's economic
leader, we must develop the best educated and best trained
workforce in the world in order to command those high prices and
afford those high wages. —
American employers must recognize that they need and must
insist on having—workers who are versatile. U.S. workers must be
able to adapt to changing conditions not only by learning new skills
but also by changing their roles in the workplace. They must be ca-
Eable of solving problems, and they must be encouraged to do so
y working in teams and by helping forward-thinking management
meet its responsibilities. The legislation before us today does not
address the skill development of our current workforce. It will,
however, help our competitiveness in the future by assisting states
to prepare our youth for the critical transition from school-to-work.
As the global marketplace has evolved, why have our compe—ti-
tors' standard—s of living improved when ours has stagnated or
even declined over the last few decades? This troubles me. Accord-
ing to the National Center on Education and the Economy, since
1969, real average weekly earnings in the United States have fall-
en by more than 12 percent. Even more disconcerting is that the
incomes of our top 30 percent earners increased while those of the
other 70 percent have spiraled downward. And as we all know, the
income of no—n-competitive, displaced workers does notjust decline,
it plummets with shock waves rippling through our communities,
states and nation.
I believe that our lagging standard of living can be explained in-
part because our competitors have created multi-track systems
which address the educational needs not just of college bound stu-
dents. For the non-college-bound students, many of our toughest
competitors have created career-oriented educational programs that
prepare students to enter the workforce. These programs expose
young people to the workplace and teach them occupational skills
along with related educational training. Furthermore, our competi-
tors have often set up standards that enable these workers to
choose career tracks that allow the ambitious and talented to con-
tinuously increase their skill levels, and thus, advance further up
the corporate and economic ladder. They have recognized that edu-
cation and skills development are the keys to high wages and full
employment.
Clearly, this is a revolutionary departure from the way we think
of education in America. As it stands, our most academical—ly gifted
students are directed into t—he college-prep track. The rest at least
those who are not ignored are sorted into either a vocational or
