Wirtz Warns Of Training Program Lag
Secretary of Labor W. Willard Wirt2 said yesterday the Federal manpower training program to help relieve unemployment faces a slowdown unless adequate financing is assured.</br></br>Û\ve are faced with the prospect of the brakes being applied just as the program has gotten under way,Û Wirtz told a Senate Labor Subcommittee.</br></br>To meet the problem, he urged enactment of legislation to end a requirement that individual states must match Federal funds for manpower training.</br></br>Federal assumption of 100 per cent of the cost plus the cost of program expansion recommended by Wirtz would require a total authorization of $422 million in the third yearÛÓ $100 million more than originally planned. The program now is entering its second year.</br></br>With training programs lasting 35 to 52 weeks, Wirtz explained, authorizations of funds by state legislatures just do not extend far enough i,nto the future for proper planning in conjunction with the Federal Government.