of population decline. As a consequence, the cost of government and social services must be spread over a smaller and shrinking population and economic base; income and educational attainment are lower than in urban areas; knowledge of and experience with urban job markets are limited; and training and educational opportunities are restricted. Thus, the very characteristics of the rural area make the elimination or alleviation of poverty particularly difficult.

The combined effect of all these forces is accelerating the disappearance of the traditional separateness of agriculture from the industrial system. In turn, national manpower policies and programs, dedicated to the maximum utilization of our human resources, can more effectively embrace the rural worker. For this Department is deeply committed to the alleviation of rural poverty. We believe that the record will show considerable progress in meeting that commitment while pointing to the need for an even more concentrated effort.

II. PRESENT DEPARTMENT OF LABOR PROGRAMS

A. Recent developments in the employment service

1. Smaller communities program.-The Department has always recognized that the rural labor force needs much the same kind of manpower services offered urban workers. Many of the rural counties, however, are so sparsely populated that they do not justify expenditures for the establishment of full-time local employment offices.

To overcome this limitation, the Department's Bureau of Employment Security in concert with several State employment security agencies undertook an experimental program to develop a special mobile office technique for performing the most useful employment service functions. Based on the experience gained from the experimental program the Bureau evolved its current Smaller Communities Program. Essentially, the program is an economical method for bringing a full range of services to residents who live beyond commuting distance of permanent local employment offices. The services are provided by a mobile team of Employment Service Specialists. Office space is provided free by community officials and the team remains in the area as long as necessary (generally two or three months) to meet the manpower needs of the area including outreach to a maximum number of the area's unemployed and disadvantaged residents. The mobile team develops training and job opportunities and makes referrals to other agencies that can provide supportive services to enhance the employability of the individuals. It also helps local development groups in their efforts to establish new industries.

2. Pilot Program on Labor Mobility.-Since early 1965 the Federal-State employment security system has been conducting a number of labor mobility demonstration projects as authorized under MDTA. The projects are designed to determine the effectiveness of relocation allowances as a means of reducing unemployment and to identify the required resources and techniques with a view to establishing a broader relocation program. The projects are purposely varied in setting, approach and techniques, to test the potential for the program under a broad range of circumstances.

Results to date indicate that a many-sided approach in worker relocation assistance is needed to overcome immobility which prolongs unemployment in rural areas. The early administrative difficulties have been resolved and the indications are that a carefully controlled program of relocation assistance can be a constructive force in rural outmigration.

3. Services to American Indians.-For a number of years, the Bureau of Employment Security, by formal agreement with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, has provided employment service assistance through the respective State employment security agency in those States with large Indian populations. As the plight of the Indian worsened, it became apparent that he was a member of a severely disadvantaged group which has not been able to surmount persistent socio-economic difficulties.

In recognition of the need for vigorous action the Manpower Administration, in cooperation with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, sponsored a National Conforence on Mapower Programs for Indians held recently in Kansas City, Missouri. The conference brought together some 200 Indian tribal leaders from 25 States, forming the largest intertribal gathering in the history of this Nation. Representatives from government agencies, interested organizations, and the business community also attended.

As one immediate result of the conference, approximately 200 new positions have been allocated to State agencies for the extension of the Human Resources Development services to reservations and communities with significant Indian populations. These services include outreach, referral to other agencies for supportive services, various opportunities for training, intensive job development, and a job information and reporting program. Implementation of other recommendations is proceeding with the advice of the conference leaders. B. The Farm Labor Service

One of the major Labor Department manpower programs serving rural areas is the provision of employment service facilities to farm and woods employers and workers through the Farm Labor Service. In addition to the regular placement services that are provided to workers and employers through the cooperative Federal-State employment service system, the Farm Labor Service has been applying different approaches to meet the fast changing developments of our rural economy.

1. The annual worker plan.—Of special importance are the placement services provided to migrant farm workers. Through the Annual Worker Plan arrangements are made to maximize work opportunities for migrants by planning a whole season's itinerary for migratory families or crews. The Annual Worker Plan has significantly contributed to reducing the time lost by migrants in looking for work or through their ill-timed arrival in labor demand areas before work is available. The Plan is flexible and permits last-minute adjustments in a crew's itinerary caused by changes in the timing and volume of labor demand. 2. Interstate clearance of workers.-The provision of employment services to farm employers through interstate clearance of workers is conditioned upon the job offers meeting certain standards prescribed by regulations promulgated by the Secretary of Labor. These regulations have been changed recently to ensure that no interstate migratory workers will be referred to jobs where the housing offered does not meet prescribed standards (effective July 1, 1967). This is expected to result in improved housing facilities offered migratory workers. With improved housing available, more and better farm workers can be attracted to meet peak seasonal needs.

3. Curtailment of Foreign Labor.-Of special significance in recent years, has been the Department's actions in implementing the decision of the Congress to curtail the employment of contract foreign farm labor on American farms. The Congress refused to continue the Mexican labor program after December 31, 1964. The Secretary of Labor, shortly before the program ended, issued regulations prescribing standards that growers must meet in order to obtain his certification to import foreign farm workers under the Immigration and Nationality Act. These standards were considerably higher than those used in the past.

The impact of the foreign farm labor policy has been considerable. Foreign farm labor use has been sharply curtailed and domestic workers have benefited through the greater availability of jobs offering higher wages. There have been no serious dislocations of the farm labor market and, on the whole, there has been a relatively smooth transition to an almost complete reliance upon domestic workers in those farming areas where in the past large numbers of foreign contract workers were employed.

C. MDTA training programs

The Manpower Development and Training Act, which authorized a national program of occupational training, has, from the outset, been directed toward helping the American worker to develop to the fullest his skills and potentials and to find his place as a contributor to the economy. Perhaps, the most important conclusion to be drawn from experience to date is that the basic tenet of the program remains valid and sound, regardless of the economic environment. Thus, special efforts have been made to promote training opportunities in rural communities where low income and other economic deficiencies prevail. Several months ago, each State employment security agency was informed that "a major effort must be made to expand and improve training and other manpower services for rural workers." Consonant with this directive, each of the Bureau of Employment Security regional offices was assigned a Rural Manpower Training Specialist to coordinate the development of new techniques for improving the skills and raising the economic levels of rural workers as well as to assure such workers the full range of manpower services.

One of the significant features of the program is the special recognition given to the needs of small farm operators. As members of farm families with less

than $1,200 annual income they are considered unemployed under the Act and are, therefore, eligible for training allowances, provided they meet the other requirements applicable to all unemployed workers. As a consequence, courses have been designed to upgrade the skills of self-employed farmers so that they may keep abreast of the developments in farm mechanization.

One of the special devices for overcoming the problems inherent in arranging training classes for a widely dispersed population, has been the development of the individual referral plan. Since it is not necessary to establish a complete class in any one occupation, under this plan, individuals may be referred to training in on-going institutions. Recently a contract was signed with several national business schools, operating in eight states. It is expected that rural residents will be referred to training slots in these private schools, with MDTA providing subsistence, allowances, and of course, the necessary supportive services.

Individual referral is one way in which the Department is attempting to reach and serve rural residents. Another is in the use of community groups such as the Rural Community Action agencies. In eastern Kentucky several such agencies have undertaken the development of on-the-job training projects. Of particular interest is the project sponsored by the AFL-CIO Appalachian Council in eleven states. Under this project, 3,000 disadvantaged from the Appalachian region will be placed in on-the-job training with the help of over 7,000 local unions. Preference will be given to selection of individuals from the Neighborhood Youth Corps, the Job Corps, and enrollees under the Title V program of the Economic Opportunity Act.

In 1966, close to 45,000 rural residents participated in MDTA courses, covering both agricultural-related occupations and a variety of nonagricultural skills. Basic education and supportive services were provided when necessary.

With the exception of five metropolitan areas, all areas designated as eligible for training assistance under the provisions of Section 241 of MDTA are essentially rural in nature. These are the provisions which govern training activities in redevelopment areas as designated under the Economic Development Act. In the development and approval of training projects under this section, the Department works closely with the Departments of Commerce and Health, Education and Welfare. To the maximum extent possible, projects are conducted in redevelopment areas to assist firms which have newly located therein or which are the recipients of loans or grants under the Economic Development Act, D. The MDTA experimental and demonstration program

The experimental and demonstration program (widely known as E & D) seeks to develop new ways to meet manpower problems. Its object is to learn and to teach by doing, to explore feasbility and to measure effectiveness of new approaches, to set examples which can be widely adopted to improve established manpower programs.

Broadly speaking, the E&D program for the disadvantaged in rural areas falls into two categories:

Projects designed to overcome the lack of established institutions capable of reaching and training rural residents by enlisting rural colleges as training facilities for the non-college population.

Projects which develop techniques for reaching rural residents and helping them to take advantage of job and training opportunities.

Eleven colleges have run E&D projects specifically aimed at the rural poor. The projects have involved some resident trainees and some commuting students. The resident trainees have generally become greatly involved in the life of the campus, have developed great pride in attending college, and have thereby been strongly motivated to learn.

These projects have demonstrated that considerable outreach effort is needed to persuade the rural indigent to participate in training. Some of the best projects have also conducted activities in surrounding areas, helping the residents to make use of facilities available closer to home.

When the interest of the college administrations has been fully engaged, the results have showed that colleges can indeed provide useful training for the disadvantaged in rural areas.

A number of projects have pioneered in bringing manpower services to needy rural persons with notable results.

The North Carolina Fund has brought intensive services to 1,000 rural poor and more limited services to 3,000. It has stressed the use of nonprofessional

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aides, who are themselves rural poor, and has demonstrated that it is possible to increase income by providing services which are not normally available in rural areas.

The Southern Rural Training project assisted rural communities in developing programs for participation in MDTA training and other Great Society activities. This needed technical assistance helped overcome the weakness of rural community organization and its lack of knowledge about how to use available programs. Several million dollars worth of MDTA and OEO projects were funded in consequence of this assistance.

E&D experience confirms the entire catalog of disabilities of the rural poor and the difficulties inherent in their situation. However, it also demonstrates that these disabilities and difficulties have in a few pilot situations been overcome. Whether society has the resources to do this on the mass scale required for outreach by personal contact, for individually tailored training and other vocational preparation including remedial education, and for special guidance once trainees are placed on the job, is a challenging question. The wide dispersion of the rural residents makes it likely that these services will be very costly, and suggests consideration of new uses for the countryside and for its residents that may be better answers to rural problems than an effort to train rural people for urban occupations and urban living conditions.

E. Work training programs

The responsibility for administering three separate work-training and job creation programs authorized under the Economic Opportunity Act, as amended, is now vested in the Secretary of Labor by delegation from the Director, Office of Economic Opportunity. These programs include the Neighborhood Youth Corps, Operation Mainstream, and New Careers. The Bureau of Work Programs (BWP) is a new bureau in the Manpower Administration expressly created to bring together in one administrative element these three separate but closely related programs.

Mindful of the waste of manpower in many rural areas, BWP has marshalled its resources so that almost half of all present projects are located in these areas. 1. Neighborhood Youth Corps.-New and innovative changes instituted under the EOA are part of the ongoing program of the Neighborhood Youth Corps and the record of the Corps in rural areas is good. During the first two years of NYC operation, over 43 percent of the 3,337 projects were in rural areas comprising 32 percent of 1,171,000 job opportunities for rural youth in 48 States.

The work assignments available in rural areas are meaningful and constructive, providing avenues for career development. In Hazard, Kentucky, for example, 43 NYC enrollees worked in hospitals as nurses aides, cafeteria aides, xray aides, clerical aides, and pharmacy laboratory aides. Fourteen enrollees were subsequently hired for permanent positions by these same hospitals, while an additional 14 were hired by the school system for permanent positions as library, teacher, and cafeteria aides.

NYC has also linked its program with the work of various rural agencies and organizations such as the Soil Conservation Service, Federal Extension Service, the Bureau of Public Roads, Rural Community Action Agencies, many VISTA groups, and several State Farmer Unions.

2. Operation Mainstream.-Under the Nelson Amendment (1965), Operation Mainstream projects provide conservation, beautification and community betterment work for persons with poor employment prospects because of age or other reasons. The program is aimed at elderly people, estimated at close to a million, living at or near bare subsistence levels in rural areas and small towns. All Operation Mainstream projects are designed to give reasonable assurance of leading to future full-time employment, independent of further financial support. These projects are built on work-experience and training activities that will improve rural areas or small towns, such as decreasing air or water pollution, improving parks, protecting wildlife, rehabilitating housing, or extending education, health or social services.

3. New careers program.-The New Careers concept seeks to realize significant employment potential through the design and creation of new types of career jobs in human and public services particularly as support for professionals in social. educational, health, public safety, and area development. This concept can, if soundly implemented, provide career ladder opportunities, leading the poor to permanent employment with built-in upward and lateral mobility, thus gaining not only a source of employment and economic advancement, but of self-confidence and pride in self-fulfillment.

The great need for improved delivery of social and supportive services in rural areas offers vast opportunities for imaginative implementation of the New Careers concept in the public service. The Department's experience with the NYC and MDTA programs augurs well for the administration of the New Careers Program.

4. Title V program.-Another work-training program which the Department of Labor will share responsibility with HEW is the Title V Program. This joint responsibility is called for in the 1966 amendments to the MDTA and the Economic Opportunity Act. This program provides work-experience training for persons unable to support themselves or their families, including workers in farm families with less than $1,200 net income.

Pretraining services, basic maintenance, health, family and day care, counseling (non-vocational), basic education, and other necessary social services will continue to be the responsibility of HEW. Project approval as well as criteria for selection will be a joint responsibility of the Department of Labor and HEW. Enrollment in this program is aimed primarily at welfare recipients, but may include individuals falling into the "most needy" category who would be qualified for welfare were it not for other constraints. Consideration will also be given to the need for education, the number of dependents in the family and age, and emphasis will be placed on manpower services. Priority will be given to projects with a high training potential and which afford the best prospects for contributing to upward mobility of participants.

F. Research

In its research activities the Manpower Administration has had a continuing concern with the problems of rural manpower development and has spearheaded a number of pioneering efforts with the aim of developing the necessary information for more effective implementation of existing programs as well as providing the basis for further administrative action.

1. Adjusting to the rural environment.-The adjustment problems that former rural residents face upon moving to an urban environment are being studied in Cleveland, where we are sponsoring a combination research effort and action program to assist the occupational adjustment of recent low-income southern immigrants. Following the analysis of the data compiled, an experimental counseling and training program will be conducted.

2. Study of migratory workers.-The problems of migrant farm workers-how they adapt to changing manpower needs, difficulties in obtaining year round fulltime jobs, raising income levels, and ways in which migrants can be assimilated into the mainstream of economic affluence-is another subject of high research priority. In Michigan, for example, the State University is conducting for the Department an investigation of the process by which Mexican-American migrant farm workers drop out of the migrant stream, settle in northern communities and adjust to new labor force requirements and opportunities.

3. Regional economic growth.-The problems of regional economic growth, particularly of assisting rural sections to develop their economic potential has, of course, been a major area of concern covering many aspects of Great Society programs. Hence, the Department supported a study of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan-an area characterized by high unemployment, substantial outmigration, and overall lack of economic development. In order to assess the problems involved in the area, a comprehensive and systematic analysis was undertaken of the region's labor force and industry to determine the characteristics of the region's manpower problems and to develop a model forecast manpower demands by industry for 1970 and 1975. The study demonstrated the value of conducting complete and comprehensive examinations of a region's potentialeconomic and manpower-and making the information available to potential employers.

III. PROGRAM EMPHASIS AND DIRECTION

Central to any meaningful policy for rural residents are job creation and training and education to prepare people to take advantage of new job opportunities.

A. Job creation

New jobs can be created. They can arise from economic development of rural areas or from the development of districts made up of both rural and urban areas. They can come from location of nonagricultural industries in, or within commuting distance of rural areas. Financial and technical assistance to business firms and public works projects will bring additional job openings.