Total Budget
(Dollars in Billions)
|
|
FY
2000
|
FY
2001
|
Change
|
Discretionary
Programs: |
$11.2 |
$12.4 |
+$1.2 |
Mandatory Programs:
|
$23.0 |
$27.4 |
+$4.4 |
Total, Department of
Labor: |
$34.2 |
$39.8 |
+$5.6 |
Adjustments: 1/ |
-$2.5 |
-$0.1 |
-- |
Total, President's
Budget: |
$31.7 |
$39.7 |
|
Full Time
Equivalents |
17,099 |
17,450 |
+351 |
1/ Adjustments reflect advance appropriations
of $2.5 billion in FY 2000 column; and proposed user fees of $138 million in FY
2001.
INTRODUCTION
The FY 2001 budget reflects the Department of
Labor's (DOL's) commitment that all workers have the opportunity to find and
hold jobs, under reasonable working conditions, with good wages, reliable
pensions, health benefits; and have opportunities to improve their skills.
To meet this commitment, the Department's FY 2001 budget proposals provide
a total of $39.7 billion in budget authority and
17,450 full-time equivalents (FTE). The request for discretionary programs is
$12.4 billion in budget authority, which is $1.2 billion above the FY 2000
level.
The American economic system has created twenty million
new jobs in the past seven years, and the unemployment rate is at its lowest
level in 30 years. Yet today's economy has not yet reached all working
Americans. This budget contains important initiatives to help
assure that this prosperity is broadly shared among all sectors and age ranges
of society including those residing in both urban and rural areas, where youth
unemployment reaches as high as thirty percent.
HELPING WORKING FAMILIES MANAGE CHANGE
The dynamic forces of technology, globalization, and competition are
changing the workplace. Large firms, which provided steady employment are now
complemented by a dynamic world of small and medium-sized business startups,
often in new lines of industry. Many new jobs are in these smaller firms.
This budget takes account of the dramatic changes that continue to sweep
through the economy, proposing ways to help America's working families manage
change and succeed in the new environment.
To maximize the overall results in meeting the challenges of a changing
economy, this budget provides the resources for significant progress toward
three strategic goals: to promote a prepared workforce, to promote a secure
workforce, and to improve the quality of the workplace itself.
A Prepared Workforce--This budget request reflects one of
the President's top priorities: investing in education and training to help
ensure that every American has the schooling and the skills to succeed in the
increasingly competitive global economy. The Youth Opportunity Movement program
will provide investments that help young people make a successful transition to
the world of work and family responsibility. Another initiative addressing this
goal is the Fathers Work/Families Win initiative which will provide competitive
grants to State and local Workforce Investment Boards to promote responsible
fatherhood and support working families. These are some of the initiatives in
this budget that focus first on youth and then target the high unemployment,
low skills, and lack of work experience among youth and adults in some of our
poorest communities.
Because a changing economy often requires our Nation's
workers to have new skills, and related support services as the labor market
changes, the budget continues the President's Universal Reemployment initiative
path which aims to serve all dislocated workers in need of assistance.
A Secure Workforce--It is critical to ensure that all
Americans are economically secure after they retire. Employment-based pension
and health benefits are the foundation of family security.
Only about one-half of all full-time workers in the private sector have
pension coverage. Three-quarters of workers in small businesses are not covered
by a pension plan. Increasing access to our private pension system and assuring
that private pensions, health care, and other employee benefits are secure and
properly administered are priorities addressed by this budget.
Several initiatives have been designed to achieve significant progress in
helping to promote an economically secure workforce. Because of the fast
changing economy, to help American workers who lose their jobs through no fault
of their own, the Administration will seek enactment of legislation to
consolidate, reform and extend the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) and
NAFTA-Transitional Adjustment Assistance programs.
Quality Workplaces--The third goal is to help guarantee
every working American a safe and healthful workplace with equal opportunity
for all. Tough enforcement is necessary where an employer's practices threatens
workers' safety and health, discriminates on the basis of gender, race,
veterans' status, or disability, or deprives workers of fair wages. Our
ultimate goal, however, is compliance with employment laws. There must be an
appropriate balance of fair and consistent enforcement, cooperative
partnerships, and compliance assistance and training. The Department also is
committed to improving the working conditions of children at home and abroad by
eliminating violations of child labor laws and by raising core international
labor standards to enhance economic stability abroad.
CHALLENGES FOR TODAY'S WORKFORCE: OPPORTUNITY GAPS,
GLOBALIZATION, STRENGTHENING WORKING FAMILIES
FY 2001 BUDGET PROPOSALS -- FACING THE
CHALLENGES
The Department's FY 2001 request proposes several program increases and
innovations, all of which are focused upon addressing the challenges posed by a
rapidly changing economic environment. Globalization, adapting to technological
developments, reaching untapped labor markets and improving the conditions of
working families are just a few of the challenges with which the American
workforce must contend.
There exists today, not a worker shortage, but
a skills shortage, and it is imperative that the Opportunity Gaps
and Untapped Markets
are identified and fully utilized. This will help to increase access for all
Americans to the schooling and skills needed for success in today's competitive
global economy.
The United States has for
many years sought to raise international labor standards as part of an open
trading program. An important step toward Putting a Human Face on
Globalization was achieved
when the International Labor Organization adopted, the Senate ratified and the
President signed the international convention outlawing the worst forms of
child labor. To take our efforts to a new level, the President is proposing an
expansion of our international child labor efforts to make the convention's
aspirations a reality.
In addition to addressing abusive child labor,
many developing countries need assistance in formulating and implementing core
labor standards and in constructing a social safety net. DOL can help in these
areas as well as providing support for health education and HIV/AIDS prevention
in the workplace, and the monitoring of labor issues worldwide.
Finally, as Americans, we must Live
Our Values at Home, and that
is why DOL will continue to strengthen its work and family programs. Stronger
families and communities can be built by helping Americans balance the
competing demands of work and family. A critical element of the
Administration's efforts to help millions of Americans raise families and make
ends meet is the President's proposed $1 increase in the minimum wage. The
Department recently proposed new rules that make it possible for states to
allow workers who have earned unemployment insurance coverage to collect
unemployment payments while they are on leave during the first year after the
birth or adoption of a child. To assist other working families, there is a need
to expand the Family and Medical Leave Act to cover ten million more Americans
who work for smaller companies. Pay equity and workplace safety also are vital
to the work and family effort.
A PREPARED WORKFORCE
Opportunity Gaps and Untapped
Markets:
There are several programs included within the
Youth Opportunities Movement to address the opportunity gaps and reach
untapped labor
markets in order to advance the goal to promote a prepared workforce.
Youth Opportunity Grants
The FY 2001
budget includes $375 million for Youth Opportunity Grants, an increase of $125
million above FY 2000. This program is intended to provide comprehensive,
longer term
intervention primarily in the
lives of out-of-school youth living in inner cities and high poverty areas to
help them graduate from high school, get jobs, and progress in the workforce.
Of the total request, $250 million in competitive grants will be distributed to
25 to 30 high poverty areas for the third year of funding. An additional $125
million is requested in FY 2001 to fund the first year of 12 to 15 new grants
to high poverty areas. The program will serve an estimated 85,000 in 2001.
Responsible Reintegration for Young
Offenders
Also included in the FY 2001 budget is an
initiative for Responsible Reintegration for Young Offenders funded at $75
million to address youth offender issues. This is a new initiative and will
build on work begun earlier including $13.9 million in FY 2000 demonstration
funds. This large scale Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Pilot and Demonstration
initiative will link young offenders under age 35 with essential services that
can help make the difference in their choices in the future, such as education,
training, job placement, drug counseling, and mentoring, which are the primary
tools for reintegrating this population into the mainstream economy. Through
local competitive grants, this program would establish partnerships between the
criminal justice system and local workforce investment systems, complementing a
similar program in the Department of Justice. An estimated 19,000 youth will be
served.
Safe Schools/Healthy Students
Also included in the
FY 2001 budget is $40 million for DOL to participate in the next competitive
round of Safe Schools/Healthy Students grants. This is an effort begun in FY
1999 in collaboration with the Departments of Education, Health and Human
Services, and Justice to promote healthy childhood development and to prevent
school violence and alcohol and other drug abuse through a comprehensive,
community-wide approach. With DOL's participation, the activities for the next
round of grants can be expanded to include connections among high schools,
post-secondary schools, alternative schools, out-of-school youth programs, and
work-based learning programs, in order to reduce violent behaviors.
Job Corps
The Job Corps will provide intensive skill
training, academic and social education, and support to an estimated 73,000
participants at 122 centers in FY 2001. The budget request is $1.4 billion, a
net increase of $35 million above FY 2000. The additional amounts include
increases of $13.4 million for the operations costs of new centers, and $12.9
million for teacher and other staff salary increases. These increases are
offset in part, by a decline in new center construction and modernization
efforts.
Universal Reemployment:
Because our changing
economy often requires new skills of our Nation's workers, the budget continues
the President's Universal Reemployment initiative path which aims to serve all
dislocated workers in need of assistance. The initiative will provide all
dislocated workers who want and need assistance the resources to train for or
find new jobs; expand and improve the quality of employment services now
available to all job seekers, enhance them for individuals receiving
unemployment compensation; and ensure availability of the One Stop System,
either in person or electronically, to help find jobs and training. Among the
programs to be funded in this area are WIA Dislocated Workers employment and
training activities, One Stop Career Centers, and Grants to States for
Reemployment Services.
Dislocated
worker employment and training activities under authority of WIA provides State
formula grants, as well as a national emergency grant account, for retraining
and adjustment services to laid off workers with a labor market attachment to
help them return to work quickly. The FY 2001 request includes $1.771 billion
for this program, an increase of $181 million above FY 2000 to support 984,000
participants. This increase is part of a build up which would assist all
dislocated workers in need of these services.
The FY 2001
budget includes $154 million for new methods of providing employment and
related information through One Stop Career Centers and its America's Labor
Market Information System (ALMIS), an increase of $34 million above FY 2000.
Services include America's Job Bank that lists about 1.5 million jobs, and
America's Talent Bank that lists over 500,000 resumes.
Also included in the Universal Reemployment
initiative for FY 2001 is an additional $50 million for Reemployment Services
Grants. These grants, made through the employment service, will provide
targeted, staff assisted services to unemployment insurance claimants
identified as having a high probability of exhausting their benefits. This will
speed their reentry into employment and reduce benefit duration.
The budget
includes a new program of employment and training assistance to Incumbent
Workers funded at $30 million in FY 2001 under a WIA Pilot and Demonstration
authority. The effort is intended to address the major job losses in the
manufacturing industry where one half million jobs have been lost since March,
1998. Complementing the activities carried out under the Universal Reemployment
proposal, this initiative will boost skills and wages of non-management U.S.
workers through competitive grants to States to train and upgrade the skills of
incumbent workers and, through local partnerships, help firms with training in
order to prevent displacements before they occur. It is expected that the
program will serve 20,000 participants.
Fathers Work/Families Win:
Building on the
investments and partnerships begun under the Welfare-to-Work program, the FY
2001 President's Budget includes $255 million for a new initiative entitled
Fathers Work/Families Win to assist low-income working families, including
non-custodial parents, obtain better jobs and higher wages so that they can
provide the financial and emotional support their children deserve without cash
assistance. Of this amount, $125 million would support competitive grants for
the Fathers Work component to help about 40,000 non-custodial parents,
primarily fathers, obtain or retain employment and progress up career ladders,
including upgrading their skills so they can support their children. The
remaining $130 million of the request is for Families Win to provide resources
for case management and skill training to help about 40,000 low income parents
stay in jobs, move up career ladders, and stay off cash assistance. Of these
amounts, $10 million will be set aside for Indian and Native American Workforce
Agencies. Additionally, current grantees will be allowed two more years to
spend Welfare-to-Work funds.
Awarded through State and local Workforce
Investment Boards, these competitive grants will enable States and local
communities to complement welfare reform efforts by focusing on work
connections, work support activities, and skills training. The initiative
addresses families with incomes up to 200 percent of the poverty level.
Disability Policy And Programs:
The Presidential Task Force on Employment of
Adults with Disabilities was created in 1998 to develop and recommend to the
President, a coordinated and aggressive Federal policy to eliminate employment
barriers for people with disabilities. The first Task Force annual report
identified and recommended support of
legislation to eliminate the barriers to health care for people with
disabilities. The Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act signed
into law in 1999, will substantially expand our nation's pool of skilled
workers with disabilities by enabling millions of people with disabilities to
take jobs without fear of losing their Medicaid and Medicare coverage.
In December 1999, the second annual report of
the Task Force identified and recommended support for the establishment of a
new Office of Disability Policy, Evaluation and Technical Assistance to be
headed by an Assistant Secretary within DOL. This new office will subsume the
responsibilities of the President's Committee on Employment of People with
Disabilities (PCEPD) and work with employers to encourage the creation of
training and job opportunities. ODPET will bring a heightened and permanent
disability focus within DOL through policy evaluation, technical assistance and
development of best practices. The intent is to integrate these tools into all
existing DOL programs and services so that people with disabilities maximize
their overall efforts to obtain the necessary skills and training to succeed in
the increasingly competitive global economy.
In addition, the budget also continues the
competitive grants enacted in FY 2000, totaling $20 million annually to be
awarded each year by DOL to partnerships of organizations to provide incentives
for broader systems -- building efforts involving coordinated service delivery
through, and linkages across, the One Stop Career Center system established
under Title 1 of WIA of 1998. This effort will promote coordination among
members of such partnerships, in order to ensure that people with disabilities
are better prepared to enter, reenter, and remain in the workforce.
Homeless Veterans Programs:
This request includes a plan to integrate DOL's Homeless Programs for
Veterans (formerly funded within ETA) within the Veterans Employment and
Training Service. The budget includes $15 million, a $5 million increase over
the FY 2000 level which is expected to provide employment and training services
to an estimated 15,000 homeless veterans, with expected job placements of
approximately 8,700.
Economic Indicators:
This request includes increases totaling $20 million for the Bureau of
Labor Statistics to improve major economic indicators. For example, BLS will
increase coverage of the service sector in the Producer Price Index (PPI), and
will expand coverage by incorporating data from the construction sector of the
economy. The request includes $4.3 million to develop a new time-use survey
that will provide nationally representative estimates of how Americans spend
their time in an average week. This will provide important and meaningful data
in many areas such as the amount of time invested in the care of the young and
the elderly in our society, variations between single and two-parent families,
and time invested in skill acquisition.
A SECURE WORKFORCE
Trade Adjustment Assistance:
The budget request includes a proposal to consolidate and reform and extend
the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) and NAFTA-Transitional Adjustment
Assistance programs for workers who lose their jobs due to trade policies. This
proposal would expand eligibility for TAA benefits to cover workers who lose
jobs when plants or production shifts abroad (coverage which is now limited to
shifts to Canada or Mexico), would raise the statutory cap on training
expenses, and would otherwise harmonize the rules of the two programs and bring
the trade program closer in line with the one-stop delivery system envisioned
by WIA.
Pensions And Health
Care:
Each year millions of Americans encounter life and work altering events -
job loss, divorce, death of a spouse, or loss of dependent status - all of
which may affect their health benefits. To address
these events in workers' lives, the Department continues to support the Health
Benefits Education Campaign that the Secretary launched in December 1998. DOL
will provide funds to continue the partnership with over 70 public and private
sector organizations to provide information to health benefit plan participants
that will enable them to better understand the new health benefit laws and
apply them to their personal circumstances. In FY 2001, funding is also
proposed to implement the Rapid ERISA Action Team initiative to preserve
pension assets in employer bankruptcies.
QUALITY WORKPLACES
The globalization of the economy has altered the way in
which the American workforce has traditionally been structured. The challenge
today is Putting a Human Face on
Globalization in this interdependent economy. There are
several proposals that address this issue and advance the goal of fostering
quality workplaces.
In the new global economy there exists the opportunity
to lift billions of people into a worldwide middle class and a decent standard
of living. The FY 2001 budget proposals attempt to harmonize the
Administration's goals of increasing trade and improving working conditions and
labor standards for all workers. Raising global labor standards and improving
worldwide enforcement of labor laws is vital to this effort. Achieving expanded
opportunity and security for American workers has become increasingly dependent
upon how effectively the U.S. addresses the international challenges of
economic globalization.
International Child Labor
An estimated 250 million children between
the ages of 5 to 14 years, are working in developing countries, and millions of
these children work under abusive or dangerous conditions. The Administration
has accomplished two major Child Labor milestones in recent years - dramatic
growth in the International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labor, and
ratification of ILO convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor.
The FY 2001 request recommends taking these efforts to the next level by
supporting educational opportunities that not only encourage the removal of
children from these abusive and dangerous working environments, but that
provide them with real opportunities and real hope for a better future. The
request includes a total of $100 million to support international efforts to
eliminate child labor through a comprehensive strategy with two inter-related
components: first, the U.S. contribution to IPEC will increase by 50% (to $45
million) for multilateral assistance which will increase the number of abused
children served covering more industries and in more countries; second, a new
program funded at $55 million will help countries enhance access to basic
education as a viable alternative to work in the elimination
of child labor.
International Labor Standards
The FY 2001 budget expands upon the initiative begun in FY 2000 to provide both
multilateral technical assistance through the ILO and bilateral assistance
through DOL to help developing countries implement ILO Core Labor
Standards. The multilateral component continues at a level of $20
million. For the bilateral programs, DOL is requesting a $10 million increase
for a total of $20 million to assist countries with which the U.S. has
important relationships to develop and administer labor standards and social
safety net programs.
Global HIV/AIDS Workplace Initiative
The budget also includes $10 million for a new
Global HIV/AIDS Workplace initiative to provide multilateral assistance to the
ILO to support health education and HIV prevention in the workplace.
Labor And Environmental Monitoring
As part of a $10 million joint DOL,
Environmental Protection Agency, and State Department effort, the budget
includes $4.3 million for DOL to improve its ability to assess the
institutional capacity of developing countries to administer labor and
environmental laws as part of an effort to improve the mobilization and
targeting of U.S. and international technical assistance.
Living
Our Values at Home :
The modern American workplace is changing due
to technological advances and the booming economy. Rigorous demands on
companies and workers call for an investment in creating an environment in
which our personal values are reflected at work.
Domestic Child Labor
The Department continues its commitment to
reducing the more than 210,000 annual workplace injuries and fatalities to
young workers in America. The budget includes $13 million for DOL domestic
child labor activities, including $8 million to help eliminate domestic
violations of child labor laws, particularly in the agricultural sector, and $5
million for demonstration programs to provide alternatives to field work for
migrant youth. This amount includes $2.2 million for DOL to implement targeted
enforcement tools, including "strike teams", in the agricultural and
garment industries; and $0.5 million for enhanced education and outreach
efforts as part of the "Safe Work/Safe Kids" initiative included
within the Department's proposals in the FY 2001 budget that advance the
Department's strategic goal of improving the quality of the
workplace.
Family Leave
Today, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) allows
covered workers to take up to 12 weeks of job-protected, unpaid leave to care
for a newborn or adopted child, attend to their own serious health needs, or
care for a seriously ill parent, child, or spouse - making it less likely that
employees will have to choose between work and family. The President continues
to support expansion of the FMLA to reach workers in firms with 25 or more
employees, extending coverage to 12 million more workers.
Many workers face barriers such as financial barriers, which prevent them
from taking advantage of unpaid leave. The President's budget includes $20
million to fund competitive planning grants for States and other interested
entities to explore ways to make parental leave and other forms of family leave
more affordable and accessible for American workers. This initiative will help
States and other entities identify in more detail, the workers in need of
financial assistance to take parental/family leave and to develop and evaluate
options to aid these workers.
Minimum Wage
Despite the strongest economy in a generation, there are still
millions of workers trying to raise a family and struggling to make ends meet.
The President's proposal will increase the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.15
over two years. For someone who works full-time, this minimum wage increase
will mean an additional $2,000 per year. A higher
minimum wage will help over 10 million Americans. Seventy percent of the
workers who would benefit are adults, age 20 or over, and 60 percent are women,
many of whom are trying to raise their family on $5.15 an hour. This increase
will help ensure that, as costs continue to rise, parents who work hard and
play by the rules can bring up their children without living in poverty.
Equal Pay
The average woman who works
full-time earns approximately 75 cents for each dollar that an average man
earns. For women of color, the gap is even wider. This gap is, in part,
attributable to differing levels of experience, education, and skill. However,
even after accounting for these factors, a significant pay gap still remains
between men and women in similar jobs.
DOL's budget includes $17 million for the President's Equal Pay Initiative.
This effort will train women in nontraditional jobs in the high-tech industry
and other skills shortage industries, as well as furnish written materials in
One-Stop Career Centers to help educate the public on the importance of equal
pay issues, and implement industry partnerships. These proposals will
complement already existing programs that provide legal guidelines and industry
best practices to Federal contractors on equal pay issues.
The Initiative dedicates $10 million from the
current H-1B nonimmigrant fee for DOL to train women in nontraditional
occupations such as high-tech industries. The initiative provides $7 million to
help employers assess and improve their pay policies, to provide nontraditional
apprenticeships, and support public education efforts. The President will call
on Congress again to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would strengthen
wage discrimination laws and provide for additional research, training, and
public education efforts on this important subject.
Workplace Safety
Within DOL, OSHA and MSHA administer various laws that protect individuals
in the workplace, ensuring industry compliance through an appropriate balance
of fair and consistent enforcement, cooperative partnerships, and compliance
assistance and training. These programs total about $668 million in FY 2001, an
increase of $59 million over FY 2000.
For OSHA's workplace safety and health
programs, the budget provides a total increase of $44.4 million. Funding is
increased by $9.8 million to support a targeted interventions program that will
focus front-line efforts on the most dangerous workplaces and hazards. Over the
past several years, OSHA has undertaken measures to leverage its resources and
utilize information to target firms with the highest workplace injury rates.
For compliance assistance, activities are
increased by $13.9 million. This request will complete OSHA's commitment to
provide compliance assistance staffing specialists in every Federal OSHA office
to provide direct outreach and training assistance to employers and employee
groups. The budget also includes increased funding for Susan Harwood education
and training grants to community-based organizations, universities, business
groups, and unions, and the state consultation grants which provide small firms
with safety and health advice.
An increase of $1.8 million is requested to
fund a new State plan for the State of New Jersey to provide safety and health
coverage for public sector employees. Additionally, the budget includes $3
million for OSHA's state plan partners, allowing them to expand the Voluntary
Protection Program (VPP) sites. Federal funding in support of the states is
required to enable these programs to keep pace with current program needs and
to meet future demands.
A total increase of $14.2 million is requested
for MSHA's Mine Safety and Health programs. To enhance protection of
metal/nonmetal miners, funding is included to provide required training to
miners and to allow for better auditing of accident and injury reporting.
Additional funds are requested for the State grant program to provide training
assistance to miners and mine operators. A contingency fund is established to
enhance MSHA's capacity for rapid response to mine fire and explosion
emergencies.
Information Technology
Initiative
The FY 2001 budget
establishes a permanent, centralized IT investment fund for DOL managed by the
Chief Information Officer (CIO). In the past, DOL agencies have separately
budgeted for and managed their own IT investments. While the investments met
the immediate needs of the individual agency, it also had some unintended
consequences such as incompatibility of systems across the Department,
resulting in a compromised capacity to create an overall program that is
effective and efficient.
As required by the Clinger Cohen Act, in 1996,
the Department established a CIO accountable for IT management in DOL, and
implemented an IT Capital Investment Management process for selecting,
controlling, and evaluating IT investments. The Department implemented the
first phase of its new IT Capital Planning and Investment Management program in
1999, which identified needs considered to be essential to improving the
overall condition of IT environment in support of Departmental programs.
For FY 2001, $60 million is requested to fund
IT investments within three crosscutting areas: (1) Information Technology
Architecture and Web Services; (2) Common Office Automation Implementation; and
(3) Security - Critical Infrastructure Protection. These investments will
enable the Department to implement a sound information technology investment
strategy, and expand our Internet capacity for the Department's ELAWS program
with improved access to information to the public on labor laws, pension and
health care laws .
CONCLUSION
These proposals, reinforce the traditions of
American families and communities, for a stronger and more prosperous America.
The new and innovative programs presented in this budget, as well as the
Department's continuing efforts on behalf of working Americans, represent an
exciting, viable blueprint for FY 2001. The programs, policies and initiatives
included within it are essential to the well-being of working men and women in
the United States and abroad, and so every American stands to benefit from
these proposals.
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