Mr. HYSON. Right.

The CHAIRMAN. You want to go to enroll in this 4-year Howard program and work part time to support your family. What gives you any ray of optimism a month from now, 2 months from now, 6 months from now, some dentist in the Washington metropolitan area will hire you at a respectable salary to do part-time dental work?

Mr. HYSON. Because I thought some day I would meet a real doctor and he will be out there to help people and it won't matter to him if I am male or female. All that will matter is that I am good and have got it. I am not selling him a bad bill of goods. I am selling him what is for real. I know what I am doing when I step in his office. All he has to do is pay me for the work I do.

The CHAIRMAN. You have faith somewhere along the line there is a guy who will recognize you for what you are.

Mr. HYSON. I believe in doctors and that is why I want to be one. The CHAIRMAN. I take it there is a District of Columbia Dental Society. Have you made any contact with them?

Mr. HYSON. No. To me a month is only a short time to be on the outside and understand things. There are a thousand different routes I could probably take and get a job and yet what is one of them like when I went down to the VA. I could have gone to the VA when I first got out of the Navy but I didn't. Now I am going to take all the jobs offered to me. When I came down here to just get some general information and maybe help somebody, you know, because if there is a racist doctor and somebody finds him out, I hope the man gets put out of business no matter how many hours he put into it. If he can't help anybody, he should help nobody. If all he is doing is trying to help yourself that is the basic law of nature, help yourself. Don't take advantage of people. I am being discriminated against I think and I won't wear a skirt and I am not a pretty little girl who would run around there and be patted on the behind, and that is what happens in dental offices too.

The main thing is I don't think they are discriminating against me because I am a veteran. In the VA they are on the job. The lady made me two contacts. One guy has contacts with all the dentists in the city. I put this in front of that right now because I can see him tomorrow, if I want, and another doctor looking for a military experienced person, I am sure there is one out there. I haven't lost faith. I am not totally frustrated where I have been trying and I just can't get a job because I know I can.

I want to do something that relates to what I do the rest of my life. Because I am not a female I cannot see stifling my real objective. I came down to tell you that.

I think these people are on the ball because they helped me the first day. I had to wait like I said. I sat around and they sent me to the wrong man from the beginning. They sent me to a guy to tell me your benefits. Where I was stationed they told me before I left. When I went to him I said, "Wait a minute. I know all these things. I want to see somebody about a job." A half hour later I got to see somebody about a job.

The CHAIRMAN. And you think your contacts with the VA thus far have been cooperative and useful?

Mr. HYSON. If it falls through, I will come down to the VA. I will try another route, the dental association or something like that, but as far as I am concerned they owe me a job.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Mr. Hyson.

May I comment on that last panel. We and the staff contacted these last three witnesses who were talked to at the Veterans Assistance Center yesterday for the very first time and we think they are reasonably representative of the overall problem.

I want to extend my appreciation to all the 11 witnesses who have given up their time to be with us this morning and also to the Veterans employment people, who are in the audience listening to this testimony, and special thanks to various employers who gave at least two of the witnesses that testified here today time off to participate in the hearings.

This concludes this first day of hearings on the instant subject matter. We haven't set a precise date for the next set of hearings but it will be within due course. We intend to hear from various veteran and employment-related people in both Federal service, perhaps Urban League and both private and quasi-private employment areas to get their side on how they view the situation in this area and such recommendations which they might wish to make.

We will announce those hearings as soon as we finalize both the witness list and the date.

My thanks to everyone for their attention for this long but very interesting hearing this morning and afternoon.

(Whereupon, the hearing was recessed at 2:00 p.m. subject to call of the Chair.)

The committee met, pursuant to notice at 10:45 a.m. in room 6226, New Senate Office Building, Senator Thomas F. Eagleton (chairman), presiding.

Present: Senator Eagleton.

Also present: Gene E. Godley, general counsel; Robert B. Washington, Jr., counsel; and Carolyn W. Johnson, minority staff director. The CHAIRMAN. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

The Senate Committee on the District of Columbia will be in session and continue its hearing on veterans' unemployment in the District of Columbia.

We have had 1 day's previous hearings a week or so ago in which we heard, among others, from 11 individuals who were recently discharged veterans concerning their various problems, et cetera, in gaining employment in the District of Columbia.

Today we will hear from various governmental officials and other interested civic groups in veterans affairs and receive their comments on the depth of the problem and hopefully what might be done to alleviate the situation.

I apologize for being late for this hearing. We were working in the Capitol Building on the Water Pollution bill and I had to be there for a couple of amendments that took place so I extend my apologies. STATEMENT OF DAVID O. WILLIAMS, DIRECTOR, SPECIAL REVIEW STAFF, MANPOWER ADMINISTRATION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

The CHAIRMAN. Our first witness is Mr. David O. Williams, Director, Special Review Staff, Manpower Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor.

Mr. Williams, good morning.

Mr. WILLIAMS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Good morning.

Mr. Chairman I am pleased to have this opportunity to meet with you and discuss employment opportunities for Vietnam-era veterans. I would like to begin by describing the current nationwide employment and unemployment situation for these young veterans, and then comment briefly on the President's recent directives for additional action.

The Department of Labor is fully aware, as is the committee, that our veterans are sharing in the Nation's overall increase in unemployment.

About 3.7 million Vietnam-era veterans 20 to 29 years old were in the civilian labor force in June 1971, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Some 3.4 million of these men held jobs, an increase of 390,000 or 13 percent, since June 1970.

During the same period the number of veterans in the labor force increased by a half million. Unemployed veterans numbered 300,000 and their unemployment rate was 8.1 percent compared with 6.1 percent a year ago. (See attachment A-data not seasonally adjusted.) Unlike earlier months this year, the unemployment rate for veterans in June was not significantly higher than the rate of 7.8 percent for nonveterans of the same age.

The unemployment rate rose in June as it did in earlier years, largely as a result of end-of-semester increases in jobseeking among students and recent graduates.

The increased summer job activity, which mostly affects the nonveteran group, also raised the labor force participation rate of nonveterans closer to the rate of veterans.

Since the winter months of 1971, the unemployment rates for veterans and nonveterans have declined, but because the series are new, it is not yet possible to compute seasonal adjustment factors, which would measure how much of each month's change is due to usual seasonal patterns.

We can, however, examine the insured unemployment, where we have some firm data to indicate a trend. These data indicate that as the volume of State insured unemployment increases, so does that of unemployment compensation for veterans.

Data for the UCX 1 claimant can be compared with that for the State UI claimant to indicate the relative experience of the Vietnamera veteran.

The UCX claimant is, by definition, a recently separated ex-serviceman and, therefore, tends to be predominantly the Vietnam veteran who is in the younger age group of 20 to 29 years.

During periods of lower nationwide unemployment, ex-servicemen experienced a lower incidence of unemployment than State UI claimants as a whole.

As national unemployment began to rise, ex-servicemen experienced a greater increase of unemployment than had the State UI claimants. However, workers in the younger age group generally experience a higher incidence of unemployment than workers in the over 30-year age group, particularly in periods of rising unemployment.

The substantial increase in the numbers of ex-servicemen receiving UCX benefits began shortly before January 1970 (see attachment B.) The number during the first half of fiscal year 1970, as indicated by first payments, was only 12 percent higher than that during the same period in fiscal year 1969. The corresponding increase for State UI beneficiaries was 7 percent.

1UCX-Unemployment compensation for veterans. 2 UI-Unemployment insured.

However, the number of UCX beneficiaries during the first three quarters of fiscal year 1971 (latest data available) was 72 percent higher than the number during the same period in fiscal year 1970. The corresponding increase for State UI beneficiaries was 36 percent.

It appears that the main reasons for the greater increase among ex-servicemen, as compared with the increase among State UI beneficiaries, may be due to the following factors.

Ex-servicemen are a much younger group of claimants than the total number of State UI claimants, are relatively inexperienced in the private employment sector, have lost contacts with the private sectors during their tours of duty in the services, and are considered by some employers as new entrants.

These factors could tend to result in ex-servicemen being among those last to be hired and first to be unemployed, having no seniority. Recently, the duration of unemployment benefits payments among ex-servicemen has also increased. The average duration of unemployment benefits payments among ex-servicemen has also increased. The average duration of benefits of ex-servicemen was considerably lower than that of State UI claimants during fiscal years 1969 and 1970, averaging 9.3 and 9.7 weeks, respectively, for ex-servicemen compared to 11.4 and 11.1 weeks for State UI claimants.

However, recent trends indicate that the average duration of benefits for ex-servicemen is approaching that for State UI claimants. For example, for the January-March 1971 quarter, the average duration of UCX benefits was 12.5 weeks and 13.1 weeks for State UI benefits.

President Nixon has taken personal direction of a nationwide effort to provide employment opportunities for the returning veteran.

On June 11, 1971, the President directed the Secretary of Labor to assume leadership of an intensive effort to place unemployed Vietnam-era veterans in jobs or training and to establish procedures which will provide employment for veterans as we continue phasing down the war in Vietnam.

The President directed that the following six actions be included. among those which should get underway immediately.

If I may, I would like to comment a little beyond the statement briefly on some of the activities in each of these areas to date.

The first is to draw upon the resources of the private sector, specifically that of the National Alliance of Businessmen.

As you may know, a joint press conference was held by the President with Mr. John Harper, chairman of the Board of the National Alliance of Businessmen and Mr. James Oates, national chairman of the "Jobs for Veterans" program, on June 16.

As a result of that meeting and subsequent discussions the National Alliance of Businessmen has accepted the goal of employing 100,000 Vietnam-era veterans during this year.

During the month of July, a national kickoff meeting of their efforts was held here in Washington, D.C., including in that group the regional and metro directors of NAB.

The National Alliance is now preparing to move to the field and enlist the support of 500 additional volunteer businessmen to assist them in obtaining job pledges within the private sector.