Comprehensive Manpower Act

Comprehensive Manpower Act - Title I: Manpower Services Program - Provides that the Secretary of Labor shall provide assistance to prime sponsors to develop manpower programs to: (1) provide prompt referral of the unemployed to suitable employment opportunities; (2) provide training and related manpower services to all other persons who are employed (3) provide training and related services to persons in correctional institutions; (4) provide training and related services to persons recently separated from military service; (5) develop systems for a timely and adequate response to major economic dislocations; (6) promote employment practices that will remove unreasonable barriers to employment and expand opportunities for upward mobility; (7) reduce the level of youth unemployment; and (8) support the development of broad and diversified training programs.

Provides that a prime sponsor shall be: (1) any State; (2) any unit of general local government; (3) any combination of units of general local government which covers a geographical area which has a population of 100,000 or more persons; or (4) any combination of units of general local government, without regard to population, in rural areas designated by the Secretary which have substantial outmigration and high unemployment.

Provides that any such eligible prime sponsor which wishes to be designated as such by the Secretary shall submit to the Secretary a prime sponsorship plan including provisions which evidence capability of carrying out a comprehensive manpower services plan in accordance with this Act.

Provides that the Secretary may approve any prime sponsorship plan submitted under this section if it is consistent with the provisions of this title.

Provides that any State seeking assistance under this Act or the Wagner-Peyser Act shall submit a State comprehensive manpower plan to the Secretary for approval. Provides that such plan shall provide for the cooperation and participation of all State agencies providing manpower services in the development and implementation of comprehensive manpower services plans. Provides that the Secretary shall have continuing authority to monitor all programs under this title and to suspend such programs found to violate one or more of the requirements of this Act.

Provides that the United States Court of Appeals shall have jurisdiction to affirm or modify such actions of the Secretary, or to set it aside in whole or in part.

Authorizes the Secretary to provide manpower services directly to States and localities that have not established manpower programs under this Act.

Authorizes the Secretary to provide financial assistance pursuant to applications submitted by eligible applicants to be used in providing manpower services. Provides that an application for financial assistance under this title may be approved only if the Secretary determines that the application is consistent with the purpose of this title, and the approvable request for funds does not exceed 90 percent of the cost of carrying out the programs proposed in such application. Provides that the prime sponsor shall, where appropriate, provide for the payment of weekly allowances to individuals receiving services under this title at a rate prescribed by the Secretary which, when added to amounts received by the trainee in the form of public assistance or unemployment compensation payments, shall approximate the minimum wage for a workweek of forty hours under the Fair Labor Standards Act, or, where the trainee is being trained for particular employment, at a rate equal to 80 percent of the weekly wage for such employment.

Provides that any person receiving services under this title shall be considered an employee of the United States within the meaning of chapter 8l of title 5 of the United States Code.

Provides that the Secretary shall not provide financial assistance for any program under this title unless he determines that such program includes: (1) appropriate conditions of employment or training; (2) appropriate standards of health and safety; (3) appropriate workman's compensation; (4) provision against political activities; (5) provision against employment in the construction, maintenance, or operation of religious places of education or worship; and (6) provision against displacement of employed workers or impairment of existing contracts for services.

Provides that the Secretary shall not issue rules, regulations, standards of performance, or guidelines with respect to assistance for services of a health, education, or welfare character under this title and he shall not provide financial assistance for services of a health, education or welfare character under this title unless he shall have first obtained the concurrence of the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Title II: Public Service Employment - Authorizes prime sponsors, defined under title I, to carry out a program under which Federal, State, and local governments will provide useful public service employment to unemployed persons. Provides that any application for financial assistance under this title shall set forth a public service employment program designed to provide transitional employment for employed and underemployed persons in jobs providing needed public services. Outlines provisions required of an application for financial assistance for a public service employment program.

Provides that the Secretary shall approve such applications when the approvable request for funds does not exceed 90 percent of the cost of carrying out the program proposed in such application, and an opportunity has been provided to officials of the appropriate units of general local government which are not the prime sponsors to submit comments with respect to the application to the applicant.

Provides that financial assistance may be approved only for those programs meeting minimum wage standards for employees, making most efficient use of such employees without duplicating other jobs or displacing existing jobs, providing full employee benefits to workers, and contributing, to the maximum extent feasible, to the occupational development or upward mobility of individual participants.

Title III: Special Federal Responsibilities - Provides that the Federal Government shall administer manpower programs to certain Indian tribes: the Menominees in Wisconsin, the Klamaths in Oregon, the Oklahoma Indians, the Passamaquoddys and Penobscots in Maine, and the Eskimos and Aleuts in Alaska. Provides that the United States shall provide financial assistance to public and private nonprofit agencies to develop and carry out imaginative programs to increase employment and training opportunities for persons with limited English-speaking ability. Provides that such programs shall include all of those described under title I. Provides that the Secretary is authorized to carry out programs and activities especially designed to meet the special manpower needs of migrant and seasonal farmworkers, of middle-aged and older workers, and of youth.

Transfers the administration of the job corps to the Secretary of Labor. Provides that financial assistance for any program authorized under this title may be made to any public or private agency in such manner as the Secretary deems necessary. Provides that the Secretary shall establish criteria designed to achieve an equitable distribution of assistance under this title between the purposes and groups to be served and among the States and between urban and rural areas. Provides that the Secretary shall establish a comprehensive program of manpower research utilizing the methods, techniques, and knowledge as will aid in the solution of the Nation's manpower problems. Authorizes the Secretary to establish a program of experimental, developmental, demonstration and pilot projects for the purpose of improving techniques and demonstrating the effectiveness of specialized methods in meeting the manpower, employment, and training problems.

Provides that the Secretary of Labor shall develop a comprehensive system of labor market information on a national, State, local, or other appropriate basis. Provides that the Secretary shall establish a program for the improvement of manpower utilization in sectors of the economy experiencing persistent manpower shortages. Provides that the Secretary shall establish a computerized job bank program to identify manpower supply and job vacancies, and to provide an expeditious means of matching the qualifications of unemployed, underemployed, and disadvantaged persons with employer requirements and job opportunities. Authorizes the Secretary to undertake studies of the contributions of Federal grants-in-and and other Federal assistance programs to the overall employment level, and to conduct pilot programs to find a more effective use of such grants-in-aid and other programs as an increased source of opportunities for the employment and advancement of disadvantaged persons.

Provides that the Secretary shall carry out a program under which public and private employers will undertake to provide the necessary education and skill training to prepare employees for positions of greater skill, responsibility, and remuneration in the employ of their employers. Provides that, with respect to all programs funded under the authority of this Act, the Secretary shall require assurances that special consideration will be given to unemployed or underemployed persons who serve in the Armed Forces in Indochina or Korea on or after August 5, 1964.

Requires the Secretary, under all programs under this Act, to give special attention to the development of more effective, systematic, and professional job counseling and quidance services and job placement.

Title IV: Miscellaneous - Authorizes to be appropriated, for the purposes of carrying out this Act, $2,500,000,000 for fiscal years 1974 and 1975. Provides that 75 percent of such appropriations shall be employed in the training and employment programs carried out under titles I and II of this Act, and 25 percent shall be employed toward activities authorized under title III of this Act.

Provides that whoever, being an officer, director, agent, or employee of or connected in any capacity with any agency receiving financial assistance under the Comprehensive Manpower Act, embezzles, willfully misapplies, steals, or obtains by fraud any of the moneys, funds, assets or property which are the subject of a grant or contract of assistance pursuant to this Act shall be fined not more than $l0,000 or imprisoned for not more than two years, or both; but if the amount so embezzled, misapplied, stolen, or obtained by fraud does not exceed $l00, he shall be fined not more than $l,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

Provides that whoever, by threat of procuring dismissal of any person from employment or of refusal to employ or refusal to renew a contract of employment in connection with a grant or contract of assistance under the Comprehensive Manpower Act, induces any person to give up any money or thing of any value to any person (including such grantee agency) shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

Title V: National Institute for Manpower Policy - Establishes, in the Executive Office of the President, a National Institute for Manpower Policy to: (1) formulate recommendations for a coherent national manpower policy; (2) examine and evaluate the effectiveness of any Federally-assisted education, training, or manpower development programs; and (3) examine and evaluate major Federal programs which are intended to contribute to achieving major objectives of existing manpower and related legislation. Provides that the Institute shall annually issue a report to the President and the Congress of its proceedings, findings, and recommendations. Authorizes for fiscal year 1974, and for each succeeding year, such sums as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this title.