Department of Labor: Rethinking the Federal Role in Worker Protection and
Workforce Development (Testimony, 04/04/95, GAO/T-HEHS-95-125).

Although the Labor Department has accomplished much over the years, its
current approaches to worker protection are dated and frustrate both
workers and employers.  What is needed is greater service orientation:
improved communication, greater access by to compliance information, and
expanded meaningful input into the standard-setting and enforcement
processes.  By developing alternative regulatory strategies that
supplement and even replace its current labor-intensive compliance and
enforcement approach, Labor can carry out its responsibilities in a less
costly, more effective manner. Similarly, in the workforce development
area, the government's job training effort consists of a patchwork of
federal programs with similar goals, conflicting requirements,
overlapping populations, and questionable outcomes. The roughly $20
billion appropriated in fiscal year 1995 for job training assistance to
adults and out-of-school youth is disbursed to 15 agencies, including
Labor, which supports 163 separate programs.  This situation suggests
that a major overhaul and consolidation of the programs is needed.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  T-HEHS-95-125
     TITLE:  Department of Labor: Rethinking the Federal Role in Worker 
             Protection and Workforce Development
      DATE:  04/04/95
   SUBJECT:  Aid for training or employment
             Employment or training programs
             Disadvantaged persons
             Occupational safety
             Labor law
             Vocational education
             Labor-management relations
             Reductions in force
             Safety regulation
             Technical assistance
IDENTIFIER:  JTPA
             DOL Summer Youth Employment and Training Program
             Job Training Partnership Act Program
             DOL Training for Disadvantaged Youth Program
             DOL Job Corps Program
             JTPA Dislocated Worker Program
             DOL Summer Program for Economically Disadvantaged Youth
             
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