solutions" are locally developed and enforced plans for bringing about equal opportunity for minority employees in local hiring practices, particularly with respect to the construction industry. We will continue to use other types of plans where the local situations warrant. It is obvious that much remains to be done, and we will have to concentrate on it this year. The reorganization of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance will add more vigor and effectiveness in dealing with major problems confronting us.

In the nonconstruction area, a major advance was to add provisions banning sex discrimination to the order requiring contractors and subcontarctors with 50 employees or more and contracts totaling $50,000 or more to develop written affirmative action plans, including goals and timetables, for the utilization of minority workers.

BUREAU OF INTERNATIONAL LABOR AFFAIRS

The Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) will conduct a major research effort in 1973, to develop data on the impact of changing international trade patterns upon the U.S. employment and economic situation. ILAB will contract with other Government agencies that have expertise in the field and with private research organizations or universities. Total cost for this proposal is $1.1 million.

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY STABILIZATION COMMITTEE

The Construction Industry Stabilization Committee has in the past been funded by the Labor-Management Services Administration from the total funds appropriated to them. This year we are requesting that specific provision be made in the "Departmental management" account in the amount of $524,000 (14 positions) to finance the committee's activities. We are exploring the possibility of having these activities financed under the Economic Stabilization Act.

The Construction Industry Stabilization Committee (CISC) will continue to be an important component in the administration's fight against inflation. In 1970, before CISC was established, construction industry wage settlements were increasing at an average rate of 15.3 percent but in 1971, the CISC was able to bring the increases down to 11 percent. In 1972, the increases thus far approved were still further reduced to 6.8 percent. The CISC has also helped reduce the number of and length of strikes in this important industry. While 424 strikes began in 1970, only 233 began during 1971. And, while the average stoppage lasted 41.9 days in 1970, in 1971, the average stoppage was reduced to 30.5 days.

LEGISLATIVE GOALS

Looking to the future, our legislative goals include the enactment of laws dealing with emergency disputes, welfare reform, provision of a youth differential in the minimum wage, pension reform and manpower revenue sharing. There was some progress toward passage of these important measures in the last year, but they will all remain on our agenda for action.

The recurrent longshore tie-ups and railroad disputes with all the economic disruption and human misery they caused, have brought home the need for a sensible way to handle emergency disputes in

transportation industries. We are heartened by the growing support in Congress for an approach that protects the public interest without destroying collective bargaining.

One thing appears to be developing in collective bargaining in this decade-I think we are going to see it shaped more than in the past by public interest, less by private influence. And public interest requires some better way of dealing with these crippling disputes in the transportation industry.

As the President has pointed out, welfare reform is one of the major opportunities for changing and bettering the Nation in our time. The administration is backing this proposal firmly. For the Labor Department, welfare reform would create enormous challenges, increasing substantially the volume of manpower services we provide and enlarging the size of the Department by perhaps two-thirds.

In the Department of Labor the economic betterment of the American workforce is our key objective. Enactment of the legislation I have discussed will carry us a long way in that direction.

IMPROVEMENTS IN INTERNAL OPERATIONS

We will be devoting a lot of time and attention in 1973 to making our internal management and our human relations the best they have ever been. We will continue emphasizing decentralization, improving our organization structure and management techniques, and tightening up on our general administration everywhere. Specifically, improvement in our equal employment opportunity programs within the Department will be given special attention. I am proud of what we have done so far-we are in the lead in minority employment among all Cabinet Departments. But we still have deficiencies we must work to correct, particularly in providing greater opportunities for minority people and women to move into and advance in professional areas.

I have touched rather lightly on a great many points, to give you a brief overview of the Department. There is much to be proud of in this record-but no cause for complacency. We intend to accomplish more. We will do our part, but we will need help from the Congress. That means the funds we have requested here, of course. It also means the new laws I have discussed, laws that reform outmoded practices and allow us to break down barriers to economic and social progress. Working together, Congress and the executive branch can meet the challenge of the 1970's. I am confident that we will do so.

This concludes my statement, Mr. Chairman. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

(The following table, summarizing the Department's budget, was submitted for the record:)

77-539 O 72 pt. 62

Function

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR-APPROPRIATION ESTIMATES BY MAJOR FUNCTIONS

[Dollar amounts in thousands]

JOBS FOR VETERANS

Mr. FLOOD. What is your Department doing to get jobs for veterans? You know from your experience in the private sector and since you have been with us in Washington that this has always been a very important question. This is increasingly so for very obvious reasons nationwide, in the committee, and, of course, on the floor of the House of Representatives.

What is your Department doing to get more jobs for veterans?

You talk about statistics. Do the unemployment statistics show that the veterans situation is better or worse than a year ago?

We hear arguments both ways about this. The news media are full of it both ways. Whether on the radio or the TV or in columns in the newspaper, on one side of the page you find one story and on the other side you find the other, each view authored by distinguished national columnists. So there we are. It is actually two questions.

Secretary HODGSON. It may be two questions but it sure is one subject and I am glad you introduced it first because it shows a priority interest in an area which with us is a first priority area. It is also a first priority area with the President.

Mr. FLOOD. It is the first priority area in your Department?

Secretary HODGSON. It certainly is. As far as the kind of concentrated effort that we think is needed this is a top priority subject. Let's start with what we think the general picture is.

The tremendous outpouring of veterans in the recent 14 months has brought into the labor market at levels that hadn't proviously existed young people ready to go to work. With the jobs for veterans

program that was established several months ago we have engaged in, first of all, a massive promotional effort utilizing the services of all of the publicity measures possible to dramatize the need-acquaint everybody with the need; second, to acquaint everybody in the employing business with the availability of a very superior kind of talent.

Mr. FLOOD. Suppose you tell us about two weapons you use.

Secretary HODGSON. The first one is straight out publicity and let's see how we do that.

You can hardly go into a subway station, drive along a highway where there are billboards, or examine any kind of major advertising area where you won't find an extensive promotional effort that says "Hire the Vets." And major attention has been given this by the National Advertising Council who has been doing this on a gratis basis for the Federal Government.

Second, we have been holding something called "Job Fairs" in all of the major cities of the Nation, where we invite in employers and veterans. The next big one is in the first week of May in Chicago this month. They already have 800 employers signed up to visit the Job Fair and they expect to have visitation from 10,000 veterans, and expect in 3 days of that Job Fair to hire the major portion of the veterans there.

Mr. FLOOD. Are you reaching out for the big conglomerates, the big industries, and big firms in the areas of commerce? All through the Nation there are many, many so-called small businessmen. They hire people too, maybe not 10,000, maybe not 1,000, but they hire. This seems to be a great market. Are you just glamorizing the thing with the big boys?

Secretary HODGSON. That is the first step, the publicity step.
How about at the doing level.

The President has said we are trying to hit them high and hit them low. The President has sent personal letters to the chief executives of the top 500 companies in the country proposing they make the policy of hiring veterans a top priority item. We have good responses from these.

At the operating and grassroots level in our employment services, our State employment services offices, we have emphasized and initially given preference, and then priority, to referral and hiring of veterans. In addition we have hired several hundred veterans ourselves to promote veteran hiring in the employment service offices.

Mr. FLOOD. You say our offices in the States. Do you mean State offices or Labor?

Secretary HODGSON. We sometimes use a rather paternalistic description of them. We pay the cost of them even though they are run by somebody else. We also work with them in establishing standards, and they have accepted, and accepted heartily and enthusiastically, this challenge of hiring veterans. So they have given, as I say, first preference and now priority to the referral of veterans to jobs both in public and private employment.

EMERGENCY EMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE

With regard to public employment, in our Emergency Employment Act, the so-called public employment program where we have hired more than 100,000 people, we have also given preference to veteran

hiring. We set as a target that one-third of the people on that payroll shall be veterans.

Mr. FLOOD. With regard to the public employment program, what have you done to examine what the local elected officials and the local people at the operational level have done? We have heard about some places where they have done well and some places where they have not. How do you know how things are going at that level?

Secretary HODGSON. We insist on reports, periodic reports on that, and we do know that throughout the series of reports we have had we are equaling or exceeding the one-third target. The periodicity of the reports and form of them I will let Mr. Lovell comment on.

Mr. LOVELL. Actually we maintain characteristics of all people hired under the program. We have very accurate reports, and one, of course, is veterans' status.

Mr. FLOOD. You were hit overnight with a tremendous job. How do you feel this morning of April 11, 1972, as contrasted to the morning you woke up and found this tremendous emergency program on your hands?

Mr. LOVELL. We have really been very fortunate in this program, Mr. Chairman. I think it is indicated by several things. One is that the Federal Government occasionally can move rapidly, and we did. I think, perhaps even more important, we have indicated local units of government can move very rapidly and can accept very substantial amounts of responsibility. We think it augers very well for our manpower revenue sharing.

ABUSE OF EMERGENCY EMPLOYMENT

Mr. FLOOD. We have heard complaints about this program, in certain large cities especially, where they read the newspapers and listen to the TV and radio, or somebody. At any rate, they have big ears, and they knew this bill was going to be passed by Congress, and, so the story goes, they laid off number of policemen and y number of firemen, knowing very well that in a couple of weeks you were going to give them a certain amount of money. All they did was just go out the front door and come in the back door 2 weeks later with your money. I have no proof that this has happened but I have heard people say that substantially what I have described has happened.

Secretary HODGSON. Let me comment on that. This bill as I understand it does two things: No. 1, it says that its purpose is to increase employment, not to substitute employment-to give additional jobs, not to change jobs from being paid by the State government to being paid by the Federal Government.

The second thing, it charges the Secretary of Labor with the responsibility to see that that happens, and it is a responsibility that we have taken very seriously. We have set up regulations to see to it that what happens is what Congress intended. Those regulations have got us in some trouble in some cases because we have insisted that States and cities not be able to lay off somebody on Friday and rehire him on the Federal payroll on Monday. It has in some cities-most recently, a good example is in Detroit-been very irksome to the city administration that we have this regulation, and to some of the unions that represent city employees, who think it is absurd to lay somebody off