Howard Metzenbaum: “today I am introducing the Reemployment and Retraining Act of 1994, an initiative proposed by the Clinton administration…”

“today I am introducing the Reemployment and Retraining Act of 1994, an initiative proposed by the Clinton administration to revitalize assistance to dislocated workers. Our economy is finally emerging from a long recession. In the first year of the Clinton administration, almost 2 million jobs were created in the private sector. This is encouraging news, but for the 8.5 million Americans still looking for work, this is little consolation. No matter how much the economy improves, their old jobs are gone for good. In 1993 we saw the highest percentage of permanent job loss ever recorded by the Department of Labor--75 percent of all laid-off workers will never return to their former jobs. For years unemployment has been concentrated in the manufacturing sector due to increased global competition and overseas plant relocation. But job loss is no longer the exclusive problem of these blue collar workers. Tens of thousands of white-collar jobs have been eliminated in downsizing efforts by large companies, a trend that is likely to continue even in an expanding economy. Workers in both sectors have been affected by the increasing use of part-time and temporary workers. Often these contingent jobs are the only jobs out there, even for experienced, skilled professionals--jobs with lower pay, fewer benefits, and no security. The business community claims that this is unavoidable in an era of global competition.”