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p 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 following 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 student 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 country, 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 managers 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 downward, 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 committee'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 subcommittee 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" system, 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 fallen 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 students. 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 competitors 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 education 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