Mark Hatfield: “Mr. President, the United States is the only industrialized nation that lacks a comprehensive system to help its youth…”

“Mr. President, the United States is the only industrialized nation that lacks a comprehensive system to help its youth acquire the ability, knowledge, skills, and the information about labor market necessary to make an effective transition from school to work. That being the case, let me cite just a few statistics that are increasingly alarming. Only 15 percent of all the young people in our country will graduate with a 4-year degree within 6 of years, entering college; 15 percent is all. The second statistic is that today in America 50 percent of the adult population in their late twenties have not yet found a steady job. This demonstrates how uncertain our whole education-job training-related activity is today in our country. I want to commend the Secretary of Education, Mr. Reilly, and the Secretary of Labor, Mr. Reich, for coming together as two major leaders in this administration to draft up and to work out the School-to-Work Opportunities Act which we will be taking up later today as a conference report from the House. Mr. President, I am proud to be the chief Republican original cosponsor of this legislation and assist in its development.”