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ESC QUARTERLY
VOLUME 31 NO. 1-4
CHAIRMAN'S
COMMENTS
Manfred W. Emmrich
Chairman
N. C. Employment
Security Commission
No State agency has been tested to the extent experi-enced
by the Employment Security Commission during
1975.
In that year North Carolina underwent its most serious
economic setback since 1929, and few persons fully
realized the impact the agency's services made on the
livelihood of thousands of North Carolinians.
During the first quarter of 1975 unemployment exceed-ed
11 percent, highest ever recorded, and it is estimated
that during the recession one of every five workers from
North Carolina's 2.5 million-member labor force in some
way used services available from the Employment Secu-rity
Commission.
The accomplishments of the agency demonstrate the
integrity of State government under severe stress and
during serious adversity.
At no time since it was established in the mid-1930's
has the Employment Security Commission encountered
conditions similar to those of 1975:
—its unemployment insurance workload increased by
1,000 percent
—it disbursed over $404 million in unemployment in-surance
benefits to eligible jobless workers, highest
amount ever paid, and a sum which easily generated $1
billion in the exchange of goods and services
—operated two, and sometimes three, shifts as ESC
personnel compiled 141,300 hours of overtime
—operated its data processing equipment on a 7-day,
24-hour basis
—placed over 80,000 workers in jobs— higher than the
preceding year—a remarkable achievement in light of the
rapidly declining labor market.
During the autumn of 1974 unemployment began to
rise rapidly in North Carolina, then accelerated sharply
during the early months of 1975. Joblessness peaked at
11.7 percent in March and claims for unemployment
insurance jumped from 20,000 a week in mid 1974 to
200,000 a week in early 1975. The increase in claimsload
was unparalleled. During much of 1975 and through July
1976, the Commission has administered seven separate
unemployment insurance programs.
The following comparison of total benefits paid during
the last four years illustrates the increased claimsload in
North Carolina and the Commission's response:
1973 .... $ 29 million
1974 .... $ 62 million
1975 $404 million
1976 (through June) $153 million
The Commission cannot overemphasize the impact of
$404 million in unemployment payments on the State's
economy in 1975. Providing a limited degree of solvency
to thousands of North Carolinians who had lost their jobs
because of the recession, unemployment payments main-tained
purchasing power, continued the availability of
goods and services, and averted a serious statewide de
pression.
See CHAIRMAN, Page 30
Volume 31, No. 1, 4, 1975
issued at Raleigh, N. C, by the
EMPLOYMENT SECURITY COMMISSION
OF NORTH CAROLINA
Commissioners
Malon R. Smith, Belmont; Andrew J. Waring,
Statesville; James H. Davis, Southport; Charles W.
Brooks, Winston-Salem; Carroll G. Tompson,
Winston-Salem; Thomas E. Allen, Thomasville.
State Advisory Council
Public representatives: Hoyle T. Efird, Chairman,
Gastonia; Way S. Abel, Canton; Sherwood Rober-son,
Robersonville; Mrs. W. Arthur Tripp, Green-ville;
Mrs. M. Edmund Aycock, Raleigh. Employer
representatives: Joseph D. Ross, Jr., Asheboro;
G. Maurice Hill, Drexel. Employee representa-tive:
Melvin Ward, Spencer, AFL.
MANFRED EMMRICH Chairman
WARREN G. WITTMER Director
Unemployment Insurance Division
JOHN B. FLEMING Director
State Employment Service Division
JOSEPH G. ELLIOTT Acting Director
Administrative Services Division
H. E. (Ted) DAVIS Editor
Public Information Director
Sent free upon request to responsible individuals,
agencies, organizations and libraries
Address: E.S.C. Information Service,
P. O. Box 25903, Raleigh, N. C. 27611
The Employment
Security Commis-sion
administers
two major State
programs — Un-employment
In-surance
and the
State Employ-ment
Service. The
Employment Ser-vice
provides ex-pense
free job
placement to ap-plicants
through 60 local offices of the Commission.
Unemployment insurance covers approximately
1 ,738,000workers in North Carolina, providing them
with benefit payments in case of involuntary unem-ployment.
The Unemployment Insurance program is
supported by payroll taxes contributed by approxi-mately
98,000 Tarheel employing companies, firms
and corporations. The Commission has operated since
the mid '30's when it was established by the General
Assembly as the Unemployment Compensation Com-mission.
THE RECESSION:
THE NORTH CAROLINA VIEW
PART 1
:
HOW IT NAPPE
By DONALD R. BRANDE
Director, Bureau of Employment Security Research
The signs of an economic downturn
in North Carolina began to appear in
the summer of 1974 as both the total
and insured rates of unemployment
rose above the levels recorded during
the same period in 1973. The insured
unemployment rate in 1974, when com-pared
to 1973, was higher every month
except January. The insured rate still
was below 2.0 percent until October
when a 2.1 percent rate was posted.
The number of insured workers filing
for unemployment benefits accelerated
in November and December with the
insured rate in December, 1974 reach-ing
6.4 percent. The insured rate for
December, 1973 was only 1.2 percent.
The recession's effect on unemploy-ment
in North Carolina maximized
during February and March of 1975.
The insured unemployment rate peaked
at 10.7 percent in February and the
total unemployment rate reached its
highest level in March when a 11.7 per-cent
rate was recorded. Both the in-sured
and total unemployment rates
declined after that period and the in-sured
rate for June, 1975 was down to
6.1 percent, while the total unemploy
ment rate in June was 9.1 percent. The
May, 1975 total unemployment rate
was 8.9 percent but it rose again in
June because of the usual influx of high
school and college graduates seeking
full-time employment and students
searching for summer jobs.
During the period of November,
1974, through April, 1975, North Caro-lina's
total unemployment rate exceed-ed
the national unemployment rate. In
May, 1975, the state rate fell below the
national rate but in June, 1975, the
state rate, at 9.2 percent, again ex-ceeded
the national rate.
At the outset of the current reces-sion,
many of the state's manufacturing
plants elected to adjust their inven-tories
to weakening demands for their
products rather than to retain workers
and build excessive inventories. This
decision caused workers to be laid off
from their jobs early in the economic
downturn. Many plants curtailed their
operations by eliminating second and
third shifts, and by reducing the num-ber
of hours worked by employees.
Numerous factories operated on a
week-on/week-off schedule, causing
the number of persons filing for unem-ployment
benefits to balloon.
Fortunately, North Carolina's Unem-ployment
Insurance Fund was more
than adequate to withstand the record
payments made to insured unemployed
workers. Due to excellent economic
conditions in the state in recent years,
North Carolina's Unemployment In-surance
Fund reached a record high in
November, 1974, when the fund totaled
$573,515,991.81.
The state experienced the highest
rates of unemployment since the Great
Depression of the 1930's during the
first quarter of 1975, and the highest
rates in bhe history of the Employment
Security Commission. In the fourth
quarter of 1974, $25,548,030.16 in bene-fits
was paid out from the Fund. In the
first quarter of 1975, $106,040,225.58
was paid to unemployed workers and
during the first six months of 1975, a
total of $218,009,210.01 was paid from
the Fund; almost as much as was paid
out in the previous five years!
The decision by the state's manufac-turing
industries to adjust their inven-tories
early in the current recession
has resulted in North Carolina recover-ing
faster than other states from the
economic downturn. Demand for pro-ducts
of the state's textile, apparel, and
furniture plants—the three largest
manufacturing industries in North
Carolina, is expected to expand rapidly.
To meet this expected demand and to
replenish low inventories, workers laid
off by these industries are expected to
be recalled rapidly and hours of work
increased.
Recovery from the recession con-tinued
through most of 1976. The eco-nomic
growth experienced in the 1960's
and the first four years of the 1970's in
North Carolina may not be reached
ever again. However, if the energy
problem facing the nation and North
Carolina can be resolved and if infla-tion
can be brought under control, eco-nomic
growth is expected to continue
in the state at a rate somewhat below
the rate experienced during the past
ten years.
ESC QUARTERLY
PART 2:
AVA1ANCHE IN 6AST0NIA
The Gastonia ESC Local Office was
as well prepared for the avalanche of
claims that hit us in September, 1974,
as was the U.S. when the Japanese hit
Pearl Harbor. There were two perma
nent staff members assigned to unem-ployment
insurance operations. Re-cruiting
for Intermittent Interviewers
started in August.
Seventeen hundred forty-one, 1,840,
5,756, 7,591, 13,261, 29,580, 49,266,
41,937, 38,501, 35,370, 28,117, and
27,789—thus went the escalation and
countdown of weeks of unemployment
benefits filed through the Gastonia
Employment Security Commission of-fice
for the twelve months beginning
July 1, 1974, and extending through
June 30, 1975. Not since the Depres
sion in the 1930's had Gaston County
residents suffered through such a dras-tic
decline in their economy. This rec-cession
even exceeded the Great
Depression in the rapidity of its
onslaught. Not even the most astute
businessmen, economists or govern-ment
agency employees forecast the
depth, breadth, and severity of this
recent recession.
The previous record for the number
of weeks of jobless benefits filed,
16,951, was established in February,
1954. Little did we realize as the reces-sion
began in the fall of 1974 that we
would not only break this 20-year old
record, but would double and even
triple it in January, 1975, when 49,266
claims were filed.
Oftimes we hear of hard-hearted,
cold blooded industrialists who care
little about the welfare of their em-ployees.
Such was not the.case in Gas-ton
County. Many textile and other
firms continued to work their employ-ees
one or two days, even 23 hours per
week, in spite of the fact that their
inventories were extremely high and
customer orders practically nil. Em-ployers
did this out of the goodness of
their hearts so their employees would
have some income for the bare neces
sities of life and to keep them from
having mortgages foreclosed and cars,
appliances, furniture and other items
repossessed. This was particularly
helpful to employees since under nor-mal
conditions, about three weeks were
required by ESC to mail the first unem-ployment
insurance check to persons
who filed a new claim and then contin
ued to file claims during subsequent
weeks. (Unfortunately, this time period
between the onset of unemployment
and receipt of the first check length-ened
to four to six or eight weeks as the
claimsload reached unprecedented pro-portions
statewide.) Some employers
may have overextended themselves
financially by continuing to work and
pay employees when little or no income
was being received from sales of goods
or services. In late January an evening
seminar on unemployment insurance
was conducted by Carl B. Harrelson,
Jr., Manager, M.L. Mauney, Claims
Deputy, Lawrence B. Farish and Rob-ert
Hovatter, Field Representatives,
and Dorothy M. Carpenter, UI Super-visor,
for local employers.
Gaston County residents were paid
$11,316,454 in state unemployment
insurance benefits for the seven-month
period beginning December 1, 1974,
through June 30, 1975, with the most
benefits paid during February—
$2,125,832. The Gastonia ESC Local
Office processed claims for 208,863
weeks of jobless benefits and paid
$10,453,428 in UI benefits during the
first six months of 1975, more than any
of the other 56 ESC offices. This activi-ty
contrasts sharply to 1973 when Gas-ton
County had the lowest percentage
of its workers covered by the state un-employment
insurance program of any
of the 100 counties of North Carolina—
an average of 0.3 percent. During all of
1973, $378,378 in State jobless benefits
were paid to Gaston County's insured
workers.
The recession began in earnest in
Gaston County when 17 textile plants
employing 5,500 persons ceased pro-
Unfortunately, lines such as these became a common occurance in Gas-tonia
during the height of the recession. Because of its high concentra-tion
of textile employment in the area, Gastonia's unemployment
climbed from one of the lowest in the State to one of the highest. No
metropolitan area was hit any harder during the recession than Gas-tonia.
ESC QUARTERLY
duction for a seven-day period (Sept.,
1974). During August, 1974, the Gas-tonia
ESC office had 22 employees,
with an average of two and one-half
persons being used on unemployment
insurance activities. Permission was
given by the State ESC office to appoint
several temporary employees for sev-eral
weeks to handle claims taken for
the employees of the aforementioned
17 plants. Only seven of 22 staff mem-bers
had been previously trained to
take unemployment insurance claims.
We took one day at a time—working
weekends and holidays—thinking that
by increased determination and effort
we could cope with the situation, or
at least keep our heads above water.
Just giving service to each person in
the office sometime during the day was
the main concern. Filing and other
clerical work had to be done after regu-lar
hours. Each morning we were faced
with an immense backlog of work, as
well as the prospect of hundreds of new
claimants to be waited on— notwith-standing
those who were already filing
regular weekly claims in the office and
at textile plants throughout the coun-try.
An early determination was made
that sufficient experienced claims-takers
were not available to take claims
at all 17 plants the week after Labor
Day. Thus, a schedule was worked out
with officials of these plants so that
about 2,700 claims could be taken one
week and about 2,800 claims the next
week. Layoffs at these plants ranged
from about 150 employees to 1,100 em-ployees.
Generally, claims were taken
from about 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.,
around shift changing times. Claims
were taken at larger plants from 8:30
a.m. to 4:30 p.m. A taped explanation
of unemployment insurance benefits,
rules, regulations, requirements and
claimants' responsibilities was played
to groups of employees before claims
were taken. Each ESC claimstaker was
given a list of questions to ask each
claimant to ensure uniformity and
meeting of legal requirements. A
specified number of claimstakers were
assigned to each spot point group based
on each worker taking about 20 new
claims per hour. One additional tem-porary
employee was hired in late
September to help take claims of totally
unemployed persons and those tempor-arily
separated at 22 plants for one-week
periods throughout September.
Then, three additional persons were
hired in October to handle one week
layoffs at 31 plants plus an increasing
number of totally separated persons.
No serious difficulties were exper-ienced
in handling claimstaking activi-ties
in October although 114 hours of
overtime were worked by supervisory
personnel and staff specialists.
Unemployment continued to escalate
to near record proportions in Novem-ber
(13,261 weeks claimed) with 55
mass layoffs of one or more weeks
duration involving from 20 to 1,000
workers as textile plants curtailed
operations one after another. Thirteen
additional temporary employees were
hired to raise our total staff to 42 em-ployees—
20 temporary and 22 perma-nent.
We inducted two temporary em-
Up to 1,000 claims a day were being filed for unemployment insurance dur-ing
the peak of the recession. The local office had to completely reorganize
its claims taking procedures to handle the enormous workload. Employees
of the Gastonia office worked weekends and on holidays to catch up on
routine duties and required paperwork.
mji
ployees and held a group training ses-sion
behind closed doors on November
11, our Veterans Day holiday. Nights,
Saturdays and Sundays were used by
permanent staff allowed to work over-time
to catch up on "paper work"—
filing, processing documents, posting
data, and taking actions to clear up
claims processing problems. Each in-termittent
interviewer was given a kit
containing the explanation of N.C.
Unemployment Insurance laws for
totally and newly attached claimants,
and a list of questions for use in taking
total and attached claims as well as
definitions of claims procedure terms.
Spot points were supplied with basic
supplies and a "crew boss".
The Local Office unemployment in-surance
operation was completely re-organized.
We set up seven units and
each unit had a supervisor: 1) recep-tion;
2) Local Office attached; 3) New
and reopened claims for the totally
unemployed; 4) Itinerant service;
5) Spot Points; 6) Oakland Street Office
(continued claims); and 7) clerical. Of
course, these were organized as the
need arose. The main office, recently
built to handle a normal volume of
Employment Service and UI activities,
was readjusted into four makeshift
divisions. Attached claims were taken
in the reception area, but too often
spilled over into the ES area. New and
continued claims were handled in the
UI area with a corner set aside for spot
point files and work space. The waiting
area became flooded with new appli-cants,
as rows of claimants waited to
file continued claims, up to 1,000 per
day. People waiting in long lines were
passing out from exhaustion and it was
a daily occurance for us to call the Res-cue
Squad. A knowledge of first aid
was now a must for all employees.
To paraphrase a well-known quota-tion,
"Never had so few been asked to
serve so many." The economy in Gaston
County declined to horrendous depths
in December and January. By Decem-ber,
about 25 to 35 plants per week
were undergoing mass temporary lay-offs
involving 4,000 to 5,000 employees.
Claims from totally unemployed work-ers
were also increasing at unprece-dented
rates. During the week ending
November 29, 1974, 1,268 totally unem-ployed
persons filed claims and by the
week ending December 20, 1974, 2,343
totally unemployed persons filed
claims.
The Manager issued direct orders for
all staff members not to work on our
three-day Christmas holiday and take a
much needed rest. Because we knew
See GASTONIA, Page 8
ESC QUARTERLY
Editor's Note: More than any other
Employment Security office in North
Carolina, the ESC office in Gastonia
felt the full impact of the economic
downturn that began in late 1974. As
late as 1973, Gaston County enjoyed
the lowest insured unemployment rate
of the state's 100 counties—a minute
0.3 percent. Yet, in the space of four
short months {October, 197k through
January, 1975), more than 6000 Gaston
County residents were thrown out of
work, while initial claims for unemploy-ment
insurance more than tripled pre-vious
levels. To say that the forty-odd
Gastonia local office employees were
unusually busy during this period of
crisis is, of course, a gross understate-ment.
Yet through their courage and
dedication they took the claims and the
benefits were paid and the crisis was
alleviated, if not averted. Much of the
credit in this effort must go to the
many temporary claims-takers and in-terviewers
hired during this critical
period to assist in the shouldering of
the heavy work load. While most of this
group had no prior acquaintance or
knowledge of the ESC, their energy
and eagerness to learn was indeed a
blessing. The author of this article,
James L. Cline, Jr., was such a life-saver—
serving as an Intermittent In-terviewer
in the Gastonia local office.
The following narrative offers an inter-esting
perspective of a time that few
involved will forget and still fewer
would wish to relive.
PART 3:
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN
INTERMITTENT INTERVIEWER
By JAMES L. CLINE, JR.
Gastonia Local ESC Office
I started to work on November 26,
1974. There wasn't a parking space
within two blocks of the place. Horns
were blowing, cars were darting here
and there—it looked like the downtown
area of a major metropolitan city at
rush hour. As I muscled my way
through the seemingly endless line of
people toward the front door, I thought,
"How can so many people fit into such a
small building?"
Once inside, my eyes quickly ans-wered
my question. There was standing
room only—sometimes not even that.
The office resembled a bee hive, with
hundreds of bees swarming and buzzing
in a state of confusion. "How can any-one
in here concentrate with all this
deafening noise, thick clouds of smoke
and wall-to-wall humanity confined
within this tiny space?" I wondered. I
quickly noted the address above the
door: 111 East 3rd Street, Gastonia,
North Carolina. There couldn't be
another place like it anywhere.
Right away, I knew that it would be
quite a challenge to work here. Now
that I had been hired, I had to try to
meet this challenge, but how? Sooner
than I expected, I began to find out.
Once my identity had been esta-blished
(which, considering the huge
crowd, was no easy task), I was intro-duced
to everyone on the staff. Rather
than "hello," many greated me with a
thankful look and something like, "Boy,
I'm glad to see we're finally getting
some help—hurry up and get to work!"
CLINE
Fatigue, anxiety, frustration and
confusion showed on many of the faces,
but I also noticed spirit and determina-tion
as well. Following the hurried
greetings, I was escorted to a quiet
room (well, comparatively so) to read
the employee's manual. Having never
been exposed to unemployment rules
and regulations before, I soon became
predictably confused. How could any-one
ever learn enough of this to put it
into practice? After thinking about it at
home that night, I only became more
confused.
Ready or not, I was put to the test
the next morning. At first, I was as-signed
to observe the taking of con-tinued
unemployment claims, or CC's.
Then, about 15 minutes and as many
questions later, I began taking these
claims myself. The front office counter
was the center of attention. Behind it
were between 100-150 claimants where
there was originally room for, perhaps,
20. Waiting periods for applicants
ranged from 15 minutes to 2 hours and
more. My instructions were simple:
take this list of questions, sit down and
begin asking them of each applicant,
and then record the responses in the
appropriate spaces on the appropriate
card. I must have performed well. In
less than an hour's time, I was pro-moted
to a new post—taking both con-tinued
and attached claims. By the end
of the unforgettable day, I had man-aged
to lose two people, make three
mistakes, and watch a woman faint
from exhaustion right before my eyes.
Somehow, I made it to work the next
morning. By 8 a.m. when I arrived,
most of the staff had been at their desks
for an hour or more. Filing and mailing
were days behind, but the people came
first.
Soon, I was informed that I was to go
out on what was called a "spot point."
A what? Oh well, okay, just tell me
what to do. It seems that "spot points"
See INTERVIEWER, Page 23
ESCQUARTERLY
PART 4:
EASTERN N. C.
RECESSION PROOF?
tics of Eastern North Carolina.
There is a great emphasis on history
in the East. Almost every village and
city has its own record of some part it
played in the development of the State
and the nation. From Halifax to Bath,
from Edenton, New Bern, Cape Hat-teras
and Wilmington comes a story to
tell, and the people who know those
stories feel a sense of permanent pride
in their people and places. Inglis
Fletcher's novels of the Albemarle, and
Charles Whedbee's and David Stick's
stories of the Outer Banks are but three
of the immortals bred from the East's
local history.
Those who enjoy genealogy come to
learn that the names of the colonial era
in North Carolina are the same names
we hear in late twentieth century
records of things that are happening
in the State. The East has a history
peculiar to itself, but a history that
premeates all that has made and
pepetuates the North Carolina of to-day.
This glimpse of history explains
a pride that is alive in the East. It is a
pride that has helped our people grow
and live naturally, rather than substi-tuting
pride (conceit) for hard work.
Rather our indigenous families have
By C. SYLVESTER GREEN
Since 1914 when I first moved to
North Carolina, I have been a prideful
believer in its history, its people, and
its programs of progress. Knowing
eastern North Carolina for 45 years,
I have found that it is a pleasant and
profitable place to live.
Over the years, I have worked in the
Northwest, the Piedmont, and the
East—east of Raleigh that is. With all
the good things I found in those other
spots, I have found something else in
the East. But what? And how is it these
findings have influenced the economic
health of the region?
Regarded as generally poor con-trasted
with the industry-studded and
educationally-abundant life in the Pied-mont,
there was a time when the East,
for a fact, was poor. Yet in this very
region, the people have absorbed
economic change, they have adjusted to
economic stress, they have progressed
with studied precision in a way unique
and constructive.
Eastern North Carolina has its prob-lems
and suffers a lack of things glossy;
factors that have added to other
parts of the State. The old colleges and
universities are in the Piedmont,
mainly along that magic crescent that
stretches from Raleigh to Charlotte.
State government is in the Piedmont
and we are accustomed to thinking
"Raleigh" when we need something
done for our section. Most of the per-manent
cultural assets—prominent
newspapers, museums, art centers,
great libraries and archives—are all in
the Piedmont. The Research Triangle
is capitalizing on that centralized loca-tion
in a great way.
But don't imagine for a moment that
growth, production and good living
stop at the eastern edge of Wake
County. It just isn't that way at all, and
racks and columns of economic and
sociological data could be collected to
validate the East's stability.
Does the East fare better in times of
economic stringency than do other
sections of the State? Where does the
East get its insulation during reces-sionary
periods? Are the unemployed
actually absorbed more readily into the
Eastern job market? Why does busi-ness
in general and manufacturing in
particular seem to stand up longer in
the East when the going is tough? Are
there any lessons for economic growth
and stabilization that the East could
teach the rest of the State?
The very best answers to all these
questions may come through an inti-mate
look at some of the distinctive,
not necessarily exclusive characteris-
C. Sylvester Green is retired and
lives in Greenville where he oper-ates
the Greenmark Literary Ser-vice
for writers. Mr. Green himself
is a noted free-lance writer in East-ern
North Carolina. He had a pro-fessional
career of more than 50
years as an educator-journalist, is
the author of three published books
and has a file full of unpublished
manuscripts, many of them auto-biographical.
He spent the last 11
years of his professional career as
Executive Director of the Pitt
County Development Commission—
a job Mr. Green claims was "most
enjoyable, as industrial develop-ment
in Pitt County tells its own
story."
ESC QUARTERLY
continued to work hard and plan well
because their pride has spurred them
to a determination that this generation
will be as good or better than any that
has gone before. This sense of pride is
inherent. It is not something to be
talked about, it is something to be ob-served.
Eastern North Carolina has what we
hail as livability. Ours is an interdepen-dent
livelihood but it is far more
independent than dependent. We lack
great "metropolises" but we have small
cities with everything we could need or
wish for. When we go trading, we trade
with our neighbors. They are the same
people we see in church on Sunday
morning, at the Rotary Club on Monday
evening, at the P.T.A. on Tuesday
evening, at the high school ball games
on Friday, and at the country club any
day of the week. They are our friends.
They know us and call us by name, and
when we go into a place of business we
have identity. We are friends sharing
in the business of a community. We find
in the market place, in the recreation
areas, in the schools and in the church
es, those things that make our com-munity
livable. And the same is true
of our political system. We call the
Mayor by his first name, the policemen
and firemen are known and respected
as individuals, the mail men "pass the
day in a friendly way." It's a good place
to live.
Eastern North Carolina has a culture
that is real; not sophisticated, but
natural. Local libraries are everywhere.
People buy and read books. Every
place of any size has book clubs,
writer's forums, art centers, craft
shops, concerts and dramatics. Our
people travel, but they come back East
refreshed and convinced that where
they have been "is a good place to visit,
but . . .
." They are glad to be home
again. This region has produced more
writers and artists of distinction than
many realize.
When it comes to education, the East
has always believed in its schools. This
was the area of many local academies,
especially in the days before public
schools became predominant. Wake
Forest and Chowan, Louisburg and
Campbell, all have long records as col-leges
of distinction. The spectacular
growth of East Carolina University and
a dozen other public and private col-leges
has been a phenomenon of this
century, and the impact of more than
two dozen industrial institutes (com-munity
colleges) is a record of the past
decade, and a brilliant record, too. If
the East grows educationally in the
next quarter century, as it must and
inevitably will, it will provide increas-ingly
important comparisons with what
the rest of the State has to offer.
Medical services in Eastern North
Carolina are good by contrast with
some other sections of this State and
sections of nearby states; good by
contrast with what they were a quarter
of a century ago. There are a few
centers where medical services are
really superior. I mention only one:
Greenville, but there are others. There
are also a few bold and glaring excep-tions
but even those stand to be reme-died
with the promises of improved
medical education in Eastern North
Carolina. Progress in every single
area will provide alleviation on the
whole for Eastern North Carolina.
We have a good climate in Eastern
North Carolina. There are few days
extremely hot and rarely a day that
could be called cold. Our temperatures
have a good range for comfortable
living, congenial recreation, and con-tinuous
vocational progress. Outdoor
sports are possible 360 days a year.
When were we ever so snowbound we
couldn't get to work? Not too hot; not
too cold; just right for good living and
hard work. Our schools rarely miss a
day's operation, and absenteeism in
our factories because of the weather is
unknown.
There is one more thing I want to
mention. Eastern North Carolina is
most fortunate in its agricultural com-plexion.
For many years it was a rural
area where farming was the principal
occupation. Our citizens were pre-dominantly
farmers who educated their
children and took their own places in
the affairs of the larger community.
One industrialist listened with alert-ness
when I told him most of our avail-able
labor, skilled and unskilled, in
Eastern North Carolina "is one genera-tion
removed from the farm." His
immediate question was, "What does
that tell me?" So, I told him that farm
work is hard work, there is no time to
stop and console oneself or the weeds
will take over. The work is year-round,
there's always something to do on a
farm. And farmers are congenial folk.
They know how to get along with each
other. "Their heirs make good laborers.
They may be unskilled industrially but
they are intelligent and trainable," I
told him. Ten years later that same
industrialist stopped me on the street
and said, "Sylvester, you were one
hundred per cent right about that one-generation-
from-the-farm business."
I spent more than eleven years
selling eastern North Carolina to
national industries. I told them what I
have put in this article. I have never
had a one of those industrialists refute
my presentation nor deny what I des-cribed.
On the contrary, any number of
them who came to eastern North Caro-lina
to work and live have said to me,
"You were too modest. It's even better
than you said."
A large heavy machine company had
picked a Pitt County site for its new
factory. The president of the company
brought his chief engineer down to get
his approval on the choice. I told him
about the recreation, professional
drama, magnificent concerts, good
libraries, and educational opportunities
here. But he would not commit himself.
Recklessly, I asked him, "What is it
you don't like about us?" His quick
answer was "Too (expletive deleted)
much culture." I am happy to report he
located elsewhere.
The owners of a new industrial plant
sent a manager down from New Eng-land
to take over the local plant. One
December day at breakfast the plant
manager said to his family, "Guess it's
about time we make our plans to go
home for Christmas." Imagine his
reaction when his teen-age daughter
said, "But Daddy we are already home."
She had been in Eastern North Carolina
less than three months.
It doesn't take long to become accli-mated
in eastern North Carolina. There
is your whole answer to economic
adjustment and economic progress.
There are inherent potentials in
eastern North Carolina.
GASTONIA
Continued from Page 5
that the economy was progressively
and rapidly worsening, we began to
suspect that the expression "You ain't
seen nothing yet" would turn out to be
all too true. The following events
created a nightmare that lasted from
December 30, 1974, through January
31, 1975, but unlike the usual night-mare,
our problems were still with us
when we awakened:
1) A total of 47 plants ceased oper-ations
because of excessive inventories
Christmas week; 163 plants had tem-porary
mass layoffs of workers still on
their payrolls during January, 1975,
involving about 30,000 persons at some
time during the month; 157 plants had
mass temporary layoffs in February.
2) Textile employers reached the
point where they had so few orders
that they could not afford to keep work-ing
the majority of employees even
part-time. From October through
March, four textile plants, two textile
machinery manufacturers, one apparel
company, one mobile home furniture
manufacturer, and one large depart-ment
store ceased operations and all
but one offered buildings and equip-ment
for sale. Later in the spring of
1975, two other textile plants closed
ESC QUARTERLY
operations. These ten companies had
a total of about 3,000 employees at peak
employment. Many other firms ceased
or drastically curtailed operations on
one or two shifts and in various units
and departments, laying off all but the
most productive and vitally needed
"key" personnel. As a result, by the
last week of April almost 6,000 totally
unemployed persons were filing claims.
How do you plan to take about 50,000
claims for a week of unemployment
benefits plus nearly 20,000 initial claims
in a single month with a staff of 49—in-cluding
29 practically new temporary
employees? We prayed some, cussed
some and worked practically round
the clock.
After the Manager had sworn to the
staff that he would rest and not work
any during the three-day Christmas
holiday, he received a phone call on
Christmas Eve afternoon with informa-tion
that he could appoint five addition-al
employees on December 27, 1974. He
didn't really mind going up to the office
to telephone these prospective new
employees and give them the good
news. As a matter of fact, this was his
favorite Christmas present.
We were most fortunate in being
able to attract so many highly capable,
industrious and dedicated professional
and clerical employees who truly repre-sented
a cross-section of the unem-ployed—
a plant manager, management
trainees, office managers, a tennis pro,
a minister, a personnel consultant,
personnel managers, reporters, school
teachers, secretaries, accountants,
sales representatives, a housewife,
retired servicemen and recent college
graduates.
These exceptional individuals made
the officer perform well because they
were self starters and eager to accept
challenges and responsibilities, frustra-tions,
and even adverse working con-ditions.
Without them, our agency
would have failed in its mission to pro-vide
unemployment insurance benefits
during the time of greatest need since
the passage of social legislation in the
1930's. Claimstaking methods were
streamlined so that a minimum number
of legally required questions were
asked of claimants. During most of
December and all of January, totally
unemployed persons were not required
to complete applications for work at the
Gastonia ESC office— why take appli-cations
when only 98 job openings
were listed with the Gastonia Local Of-fice
in December and 129 in January
with thousands of people unemployed?
Special in-depth interviews, usually
held if individuals remained unem-ployed
six or eight weeks, were discon-tinued.
We began using flexible hours for
some staff (7:00 a.m.—4:00 p.m., 8:00
a.m.—5:00 p.m., 8:30 a.m.—5:30 p.m.)
At 8:00 a.m., we began taking claims.
Most of the ES staff became involved
in claims activities in some way since
there were few if any job openings and
we elected to delay registering clai-mants
for work till early spring, 1975.
Many overtime hours (nights, Satur-days
and Sundays) were logged to
catch up paper work. The volume of
mail (incoming and outgoing) was so
great that we borrowed mail bags from
the post office and deposited them at
the platform loading area of the post
office rather than use mail boxes.
In March of 1975, a location in the
Gastonia area was found which could
serve as a nucleus for continued claims.
This we call our "Oakland Street Of-fice."
The new location was organized
and continued claims of approximately
1,000 per day were then transferred to
this location. This was of great relief to
the main office, eliminating double
parking rows of claimants lined through
the front doors and down the street,
as well as the smoking haze which was
a constant nuisance. The Supervisor of
the branch office was Elizabeth F.
Deal, Employment Interviewer I, who
had a staff of 12 to 20 full-time and
temporary employees, plus one to four
youths on federal work experience pro-grams,
to perform clerical duties. This
office had one intercommunication
("ring-down") telephone for instant
communication with the parent ESC
office and one regular telephone.
ES and UI services were made more
convenient to residents of eastern Gas-ton
County by the opening of two
itinerant points in the National Guard
Armory in Belmont and City Hall in
Mount Holly. Approximately 400 to
500 persons per week were served at
each of these locations.
As the covered unemployment rate
decreases, and the number of tempo-rary
employees declines, we still won-der
in amazement how we survived;
how the claimants received weekly
benefit checks with a minimum of
delays and what the future holds. How
did we cope with it? We did it. with
workers who did not give in to despair
and frustration, but rather pitched in
with all they had to give. But we fer-vently
hope that we won't ever have to
go through the ordeal of the past 24
months ever again! The Gastonia Local
Office thinks positive!
HARRISON
DEATH CLAIMS
ESC CHIEF COUNSEL
Henry David Harrison, Chief Coun-sel
for the Employment Security Com-mission
since 1973, died of a heart at-tack,
June 5, 1976, in Raleigh.
Harrison joined the ESC as an attor-ney
in 1968 from private practice in
Raeford, and took over as head of the
Commission's Legal Department when
David Ball retired. A graduate of the
Wake Forest law school, Harrison was
well known across the State for his
various activities in the State Em-ployees
Association and the Interna-tional
Association of Personnel in Em-ployment
Security.
Harrison, 54, headed the Legal De-partment
in an era when it was
handling more legal actions than at any
other time in the Commission's history.
Replacing Harrison was fellow at-torney
Howard G. Doyle, 45. Doyle also
joined the Commission in 1968, coming,
as did Harrison, from private practice.
Doyle graduated from the UNC law
school and held a variety of legal posts
before being employed by the ESC,
including work with county and muni-cipal
governments.
He is a four-year Navy veteran.
Doyle is a native of the Zebulon
area of Wake County and still main-tains
a farm.
DOYLE
ESC QUARTERLY
PART 5:
EMERGENCY U. I. PROGRAMS
By WARREN WITTMER
Director, Unemployment Insurance Division
The Unemployment Insurance bene-fits
described here are provided for by
either permanent or temporary legis-lation,
as indicated. The intent of these
programs is to provide broader unem-ployment
coverage (in both the dura-tion
and the inclusion of workers pre-viously
excluded) during recessionary
periods. During the very deep reces-sion
of 1974-75, which, to a degree, is
still with us, these programs have pro-ven
extremely beneficial not only to the
recipients of the benefit checks them-selves
but also to the economy in
general by enabling unemployed people
to spend money for goods and services.
Extended Benefits [EB]
Extended Benefits are provided for
by all State Employment Security laws.
When the insured unemployed rate in
any state reaches four percent for three
consecutive calendar months, Extended
Benefits become payable. EB simply
provides for a 50 percent increase in the
amount payable to an unemployment
insurance claimant under normal state
law provisions. For example, if under
the regular provisions of state law a
claimant is entitled to $50 a week for
20 weeks, he would be entitled to an
additional 10 weeks at $50 a week dur-ing
an Extended Benefits period. An
Extended Benefits period ends when
the average insured unemployment
rate drops below four percent. The cur-rent
Extended Benefits period in North
Carolina began on January 12, 1975,
and from that date through Septem-ber
30, 1976, Extended Benefits of
more than $50 million have been paid.
Federal Supplemental Benefits [FSB]
The Congress of the United States
passed laws providing for a temporary
further extension of benefits known by
the acronym FSB. The amount of FSB
payable to a claimant is fixed at twice
his Extended Benefits amount (or to
put it another way, exactly the same as
his basic UI benefits) through Decem-ber
31, 1976. During the calendar year
1976, the insured unemployment rate
dropped below five percent, and no
FSB initial claims will be honored after
October 31, 1976. In North Carolina,
FSB first became payable on March
2, 1975. From that date through Oct.
31, 1976, more than $20 million has
been paid to eligible claimants.
Extended Benefits and Federal Sup-plemental
Benefits are payable only to
those people who were eligible for
regular state unemployment insurance
benefits and who used up their basic-benefit
rights. Whenever additional
basic benefit rights accrue, the pay-ment
of EB and FSB must terminate
and the unemployed person must again
claim benefits under the regular pro-gram.
Such basic benefits are based
upon recent past employment and could
be more, less, or the same as the EB
and FSB being paid, depending upon
how the benefit formula in the state
law relates with respect to the newly
accrued wages. Claimants filing for EB
or FSB must meet the same eligibility
conditions as for regular state benefits,
and payments are made under the same
conditions as those provided by state
law for the payment of regular benefits.
Special Unemployment Assistance
[SUA]
Benefits under this program are
payable under an Act of Congress to
unemployed people who have had re-cent
employment but are not eligible
for regular benefits, EB or FSB. This
also is a temporary program which will
end on December 31, 1976. Benefits
payable are calculated under the for-mula
in the state law for the calculation
of regular benefits, and then that
amount is increased by 50 percent. In
other words, SUA benefits are the
equivalent of regular benefits plus EB.
In general, this law provides tempo-rary
coverage for most state and local
government employees, agricultural
workers, domestic laborers, and other
types of non-covered employment. Ex-clusions
include those who have been
self-employed (self-employment is not
considered employment within the
meaning of Employment Security
Laws), and public school teachers and
principals who are between semesters
or school terms and who have an ex-pressed
or implied contract for a job
when school reopens. SUA became
payable on December 22, 1974, and
from that time through September 30,
1976, more than $20 million has been
disbursed.
FEDERAL BENEFITS
TERMINATE HERE
Federal Supplemental Benefits
(FSB), which extends unemployment
insurance payments to jobless work-ers
ended in North Carolina October
31, 1976.
The program terminated because the
rate of insured unemployment had
averaged under five percent for 13 con-secutive
weeks.
No federal supplemental benefits
will be paid for weeks of unemploy-ment
which end after that date.
A provision of the Emergency Unem-ployment
Compensation Act of 1974,
FSB made it possible for jobless
claimants to receive a maximum of 65
weeks unemployment payments from
state and federal funds.
Under the law, a 13-week average of
five or more percent insured jobless-ness
triggers FSB "on." The program
began in North Carolina on March 2,
1975.
With the economy now improving,
North Carolina's unemployment has
dropped low enough to terminate the
special payments.
At mid year about 8,400 workers
were drawing federal supplemental
benefits in the State.
Across the nation, the law expires
December 31, 1976, with the phase-out
period ending March 30, 1977.
10 ESC QUARTERLY
getaway
WITTMER BRANHAM
BRANHAM RETIRES, WITTMER NAMED
DIRECTOR OF U. I. DIVISION
John R. Branham, 65, Director of the
Unemployment Insurance Division for
nearly the past three years, announced
his retirement from the Commission,
effective December 31, 1975. His
career with the ESC, with a brief inter-ruption
for military service, spanned
more than 37 years.
Branham, a native of Raleigh, at-tended
the local public schools in the
Capital City and then studied law at
Wake Forest College in Winston-Salem.
After receiving his law degree there in
1933, Branham returned to Raleigh to
establish a private law practice. He
joined the Employment Security Com-mission
in 1938 as a Junior Claims
Examiner.
With the outbreak of World War II,
Branham joined the Army in 1942 and
served until 1945. At the end of that
same year, he resumed his work with
the Commission. Before assuming his
present post, Branham held positions
as Assistant Chief of Benefits and As-sistant
Director of the III Division. He
succeeded R. Fuller Martin asUI Direc-tor
on March 1, 1973.
Over the years, Branham was active
in the International Association of Per-sonnel
in Employment Security (IA
PES). Since serving as N.C. Chapter
President in 1950, he has held several
key committee posts in the organiza-tion,
including Chairman of the Nomi-nating
Committee in 1960, and member
of the Convention Site Committee in
1961.
Branham has also participated in the
North Carolina State P^mployees Asso-ciation
and the Interstate Benefit Pay-ments
Committee of the Interstate
Conference of Employment Security
Agencies (ICESA).
He has also been active in the Amer-ican
Legion, serving as adjutant, ser-vice
officer, and as a member of its
Foreign Relations Committee, N.C.
Department.
His wife is the former Sara Harrison
of Emporia, Virginia. The Branhams
have a son, John "Ruffin" Branham, Jr.
Succeeding Branham is Warren G.
Wittmer, 53, only the third Unem-ployment
Insurance Director in the
history of the UI program in North
Carolina.
At the time of his appointment,
Wittmer was serving as Acting Assis-tant
UI Director for Benefits.
A native of Union City, New Jersey,
he joined the ESC in 1946 after a six-year
tour in the Army Air Force. He
worked in the Claims Department for
six years, then became Chief of Plans,
Methods and Procedures. In 1969,
Wittmer became the agency's com-puter
Systems Manager and worked in
the computer systems program until
1975 when he was appointed Bran-ham's
assistant.
Wittmer was selected from 17 appli
cants for the job. He was appointed by
ESC Chairman Manfred Emmrich who
called for a "conservative and innova
tive administration of unemployment
insurance."
The number of workers in the UI
Division climbed from 550 to 1,380
during the extreme workload of the
recession months.
Getting away from
it all is great.
Until you get the bill.
And then you're
right back at it again.
Well, maybe you've
got it all backwards.
The smart thing to
do is to invest steadily
in your getaway plan
before you go.
And the safest way
to do it is by joining
your Payroll Savings
Plan at work. Before
you even notice, your
U.S. Savings Bonds
have started to pile up.
So when you're
ready to leave it all
behind, check your
Bonds.
One look and you'll
be amazed at what
you can get away with.
Series E Bonds pay 6% interest
when held to maturity of 5 years
(4>/2 % the first year)'. Interest
is not subject to state or local
income taxes, and federal tax may
be deferred until redemption.
Take
. stock
ln^jrierica.
200 years at the same location.
El:J
A public service of this
£££J and The Advertism
ESC QUARTERLY 11
You want and need a job. Somewhere
an employer has the job that can utilize
your abilities and knowledge; a job that
can provide a challenge and advance-ment
opportunities. You want that job!
Job hunting is not the easiest task
to perform, especially during the
present economic situation when the
labor supply exceeds the demand. The
job seeker is at an even greater disad-vantage
when he/she is not knowledge-able
about the job market; how to look
for a job, how or where to apply for a
job, or how to relate work experience,
education, and training to other fields
of work. Moreover, a new entrant to
the labor market, not aware of these
needs, very often sets unrealistic job
goals and flounders in job seeking at-tempts.
To find a job, you need to carry out a
well-planned job search. You have
something to sell—your skills, know
ledge, and experience. Whether you
are just out of school or with years of
experience, you need to know how to
market these most effectively.
Time factors are involved in job
seeking. Postponement or intermittant
job hunting is not desirable. Plan your
job search as soon as you know that
you will need to find a job. Studies have
shown that there is a direct correlation
between the length of time one is un
employed and the difficulty exper-ienced
in becoming employed.
Job hunting is a full-time project,
and half the fatigue comes from tramp-ing
up blind alleys. Some of this can be
reduced by planning and organizing
your approach. First of all, make a
sell appraisal. Be realistic in assessing
your capabilities; don't pull the wool
over your own eyes. Hold on to your
self-esteem as hard as you can if you are
losing confidence from constant rebuffs
Guideposts for
the Job Seeker
of the 70s
By IRMA JACOBSON
ES Placement Supervisor
that come with job hunting.
The first step in merchandising your
job talents, then, is to make a realistic
and detailed inventory of your qualifi-cations,
limitations, and interests. Ask
yourself -a few basic questions:
1. What are my real interests?
2. What does my education qualify
me for? What courses or training
have I had? Which did I like best?
3. What jobs have I had and what did
I like and dislike about each? Why
did I leave?
4. What are my special talents and
aptitudes? (artistic, musical,
mechanical)
5. What kind of job do I want?
6. Does my physical condition limit
me in any way?
Write the answers on paper and pre
pare an inventory chart. This will help
frame in your mind the information
you will need to know when marketing
your skills, and will help you in prepar-ing
a resume, if you are looking for a
professional or clerical job.
After you have completed your
inventory, you are ready for the next
step—either selecting your source of
information or preparing your resume.
But perhaps after considering all the
factors in your background, you still
cannot decide what kind of a job you
want. You may not know the job mar-ket—
what kind of jobs are in demand,
what kind of jobs are available for
someone with your qualifications. You
may want to know how to relate your
education, training, and work exper-ience
to other fields of work. You need
to obtain information about different
kinds of jobs.
A good place to go is your Job
Service office of the Employment
Security Commission to gain informa
tion about jobs and the qualifications
needed to fill them. In the Job Infor-mation
section of the office you can see
the listings of job openings with the
job and employer requirements, and
the job descriptions—what is done on
the job. You may request referral to a
job for which you qualify and in which
you are interested.
The ESC has more job listings in
more occupational catagories than
any other single source. We also
cooperate in a nationwide network for
job information and job openings. The
staff in the offices know about area job
openings, even among employers who
have not listed their openings with the
office. They know the employers in the
area who may be able to use someone
with your qualifications. The Job Ser-vice
office provides placement service
at national professional conventions. It
also provides aptitude and proficiency
testing. Labor market, occupational,
and career information is also available.
If you need assistance in deciding what
sort of work is best suited to your abili-ties
and interests, you may ask for an
appointment with a career counselor.
Once you have decided on a job goal,
the Job Service office can help you in
preparing a resume. No fees are
charged for any service.
Friends, neighbors, and relatives
because of their personal interest in
you, will probably be your first source
for job information. They may know of
opportunities available to you. Give
them facts about yourself and the type
of job you want. Merely asking them to
let you know if they hear of something,
is meaningless, and rarely produces
results.
Other sources of information are:
• College placement services and
schools, but these are usually avail-
12 ESC QUARTERLY
able only to students and alumni of
the school.
• Want ads in newspapers, profes-sional
journals, and trade magazines
provide a broad range of definite
openings. This information can also
be used to analyze the extent of em-ployment
activity in your job field
throughout the area.
• Industrial and craft unions are a pro-ductive
source for members and have
exclusive hiring authority for some
firms. However, each deals with a
limited number of occupations.
• The U.S. Civil Service Commission
handles U.S. Government civilian
jobs. The job listings and application
blanks are available in most post
offices. Positions are located in
Washington, D.C., throughout the
United States, and overseas in a wide
variety of professional, technical,
clerical, craft and other occupations.
Jobs are filled on a merit basis as
determined by the results of exam-inations
and ratings of experience
and education.
• Private employment agencies may be
contacted. Some charge applicants a
fee for registration or placement;
others collect fees from the employ-ers.
These agencies usually specialize
in a few specific occupations.
• The yellow pages of the telephone
directory, industrial directories, and
Chamber of Commerce provide lists
of names of firms according to type of
business or services provided and
other valuable information to use in
making contacts.
If you are seeking a professional,
technical, managerial, or administra-tive
position, you will need a resume.
One may also be needed for sales and
clerical jobs. The resume is one of the
most effective tools in job hunting, and
properly prepared, is often the deciding
factor whether or not you get the inter-view.
Your inventory chart should contain
all the information you need to prepare
a resume. You will have to select, ar-range
and organize this material in the
best way that relates your background
to the job you seek. The resume should
be typewritten. If you can't type it
yourself, it would be a good investment
to have a copy typed by a good typist.
The number of copies you will need
depends on the supply and demand in
your field, the type of job you seek, and
the geographic area you wish to cover,
but have enough copies duplicated for
your anticipated needs, which may be
2-200. Never hand out carbon copies.
They advertise the fact that the origi-nal
was given to someone else. When
mailing a resume to an employer, al-ways
include a covering letter of appli-cation.
The job interview affords you the
opportunity to merchandise your job
talents by presenting your qualifica-tions
to the best possible advantage.
During an interview, the employer
judges your qualifications, appearance,
and fitness for the job opening. Equally
important, it provides you an oppor-tunity
to appraise the employer, the
firm, and the job. The interview also
gives you a chance to decide if the job
meets your career goals and interests
and whether you want to work for the
firm.
Prepare in advance for the interview
by assembling all the papers you will
need to take with you in easily available
order, and the information about your-self
firmly in mind. You may need:
licenses, union card, military record,
resume. If you have not prepared a
resume, take your school records, social
security card, and work records with
names of employers, the jobs held, and
dates of employment. If your work is in
the field of art, design, writing, or any
sort that you can show at the interview,
you may want to take a few samples.
Know what you have to offer—the
education and training you have had,
the work you have done and what you
can do. Learn all you can about the
company when you are going to an
interview—the product or service,
kinds of jobs available, its standing in
the community, hiring policies and
practices.
• Know the kind of job you want and
why you want to work for that par-ticular
company.
• Be prepared to furnish references
(not family) by name, address and
business affiliation. Be certain that
you obtain permission from these
people to use them as references.
• Never take anyone with you to the
interview.
• Learn the area salary scale for the
type of job you are seeking.
• Dress conservatively, not too formal
and not too casual.
• Allow for as much uninterrupted
time as the interview may require.
(For example, do not have any other
commitments too close to the inter-view
time, do not park your car in a
limited time space.)
• Neatness and cleanliness in grooming
is essential.
Each interview will be different and
will require your personal skill. The
following suggestions, however, may
be helpful:
• Be prompt. Keep your appointment
to the minute.
• Feel sure you are interested in the
job you are applying for.
• Be pleasant, friendly, and polite but
businesslike.
• Be natural. When invited to sit down,
don't slouch or lean on the desk.
Create a good impression by assum-ing
good posture in the chair.
• Let the employer control the inter-view.
Answer the employer's ques-tions
honestly, accurately and frank-ly,
without rambling; be brief but
answers should be complete. Avoid
dogmatic statements.
• The employer's questions and state-ments
will be clues as to the type of
person wanted. Use these clues in
presenting your qualifications.
• If you have not sent a resume in ad-vance,
present itT>r your work rec-ords,
and the reasons you left, refer-ences,
personal data, and work
samples.
• In discussing your previous jobs, do
not criticize former employers and
associates.
• Do not discuss your personal, finan-cial,
or domestic problems, unless
specifically asked about them.
• Be realistic in stating the salary you
want, but not until the employer
introduces the subject.
• Don't be in a hurry to ask questions
unless the employer invites them.
But do not be apprehensive in asking
what you need to know. If the em-ployer
offers you the job, be sure you
understand exactly what your duties
will be and the salary you will re-receive.
You will also want to know
what opportunities for advancement
are open to you.
• If the employer asks you to call or
return for another interview, be sure
to write down the date, time, and
place.
• If the employer does not definitely
offer you the job, or specify when you
will hear about it, ask him when you
may call to learn about his decision.
• Thank the employer for the inter-view.
If he indicates that he cannot
use you, ask him to suggest another
employer who might be able to use
someone with your qualifications.
Don't be discouraged if you aren't
offered the job on your first interview.
Each interview is a learning experience
that prepares you for the next inter-view
if you can analyze what took place.
How did you present your qualifica-tions?
Did you forget any important
facts? Did you pass up clues to best
"sell" yourself/ Did you talk too much?
Were you aggressive? Not aggressive
enough? Nervous? How can you im-prove
your next interview?
Keep in mind that in looking for a job
See JOB SEEKER
Continued on Page 23
ESC QUARTERLY 13
A NAME IN TUNE WITH THE TIMES
JOB SERVICE
By BILL ALLEN
Public Information Officer
At first, it was interpreted in differ-ent
ways. Certain members of the news
media hailed it as "the ESC's attempt
to find the perfect image in an image
conscious world." Others saw it as an
effort by the Commission to dispell the
popular stereotype of the ESC as the
"unemployment office." Still others
thought that the introduction of the
colorful red, white and blue symbol was
somehow timed to correspond with the
celebration of the nation's bicentennial.
Just as it was in Rudyard Kipling's
famous poem about the "six men from
Indostan" who touched various extre-mities
of an elephant in an attempt to
identify the animal, such notions con-cerning
the ESC's identification as of
August 4, 1975 with the "Job Service"
theme were only "partly in the right,"
if that. As it was with the elephant, the
sheer vastness of the subject spawned
differing conclusions as to its meaning.
Vast is certainly the word that cor-rectly
describes the "Job Service" pro-ject.
Nearly four years ago, in late
1972, state information officers attend-ing
an Interstate Conference of Em-ployment
Security Agencies (ICESA)
meeting in Washington, D.C. decided
that the time had come for public em-ployment
agencies in all 50 states to
unite under a common identification
symbol. Ted Davis, Director of Infor
mational Services for the North Caro-lina
ESC and one of the early sup-porters
of the "Job Service" theme,
recalled the feeling at the time: "While
all of us attending the conference recog-nized
that the 50 state employment
agencies formed the largest employ-ment
network in the country, we also
realized that our efforts were fragmen-ted
because each agency was operating
under a different nomenclature. We
then decided to search for a unique
symbol and phrase that would unify the
PART 7
services offered by the employment
agencies of each state—from Maine to
California."
Following approval of the conference
recommendations by the Employment
& Training Administration of the U.S.
Labor Department suggested that the
born—a creation of a Connecticut ad-vertising
agency. Subsequently, the
Labor Department suggested that the
bannermark be used throughout all 50
state employment agencies as their pri-mary
source of identification. States
were to begin compliance with the
directive as soon as possible.
Here in North Carolina, the Employ-ment
Security Commission's identifica-tion
with the "Job Service" theme was
marked in large measure by coopera-tion,
coordination and cost efficiency.
During the last weeks of July 1975,
each of the ESC's 60 local offices re-ceived
a "Job Service" media packet
prepared by the Public Information
Department of the Raleigh Central
Office. Included in the packet were
large "Job Service" decals to adorn
office doors and windows; a news re-lease
for local newspapers complete
with a copy of the insignia explaining
the changeover; and several written
and recorded radio spots highlighting
the new identification. In addition,
color slides of the "Job Service" logo
were distributed to North Carolina
television stations, and approximately
35 billboards bearing the new banner
soon lined state highways. Cost of the
entire program was slightly under
$1,000.
Throughout the entire "Job Service"
campaign, it was stressed that the ESC
provided many important job related
functions, in addition to unemployment
insurance. Among them: job referrals
and placements through the statewide
Job Bank network, extensive job test-ing
and counseling services, special job
aid to such groups as veterans, handi-capped
and minority workers, and
detailed labor market information
supplied by the Commission's Bureau
of Employment Security Research
(BESR). By emphasizing the wide
range of services offered by the ESC,
the "Job Service" symbol gained great-
,, .'*.
ALLEN
er meaning as a comprehensive theme.
In its directive to the individual state
employment agencies, the Labor De-partment
stated that "Job Service"
was created to perform two basic func-tions:
"1) to provide one single name by
which State Employment operations
could be readily identified and, 2) to
symbolize a new and positive step for-ward
in meeting the changing employ
ment needs of the economy." Yet, as
with anything new, it became neces-sary
to educate the public as to what
"Job Service" did not mean as well as
what it did mean.
First of all, "Job Service" does not
imply any structural or administrative
changes within the Employment Secur-ity
Commission. States ESC Chairman
Manfred Emmrich, "we're performing
the same services we always have
—
it's just that we now feel we've found a
better way to identify them."
Secondly, the "Job Service" change-over
was in no way intended to com-pare
with a slick, Madison Avenue
image campaign. Reports Ted Davis,
"Job Service is merely a means of iden-tification.
Our image, as always, rests
on the manner in which we serve our
job applicants and unemployment
claimants."
Finally, any correlation between the
red, white and blue "Job Service" insig-nia
and the bicentennial celebration is
purely coincidental.
Perhaps a line from the recent radio
campaign here in North Carolina best
sums up the purpose of our new sym-bol
—"Job Service and the Employment
Security Commission; they mean the
same thing."
^eedotfv
14 ESC QUARTERLY
PART 8: THE ESC
IN A CHANGING JOB MARKET
Jobs and people need each other.
Helping them find each other is the
primary function of the Job Service
offices of the Employment Security
Commission. Bringing people and jobs
together sounds like a simple process,
and it would be if all people were alike
and all jobs were alike. But such is far
from reality.
Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. According to the
latest edition of the Dictionary of Occu-pational
Titles, there are over 35,000
jobs in the American economy and
each job is different. What gets done,
why it gets done, how it gets done
—
these vary with each job as do the skills,
knowledge, and abilities required of the
person who fills the job. Chemist, car-penter,
actor, manager—each is unique;
each requires different types of people.
Nowhere is the uniqueness of the indi-vidual
more apparent than at Job
Service offices where every day pro-fessional
interviewers assess the job
seeker's potential in terms of the labor
market. From the "now generation" to
"yesterday's hero," job seekers cover
the spectrum of human differences. A
few of these differences that relate to
jobs are: education, work experience,
aptitudes, interests, temperament, and
physical ability. It becomes obvious
that bringing people and jobs together
does pose a real challenge, especially
to find the right person for the right
job.
Apparently, Job Service offices of
the Employment Security Commission
have learned the art of matching peo-ple
and jobs because they found people
for 83,056 jobs in the 12 months ending
June 30, 1975. What's more, these jobs
were filled during a worsening reces-sion.
Keep in mind that the high level
of unemployment created by the reces-sion
further complicated the job/person
matching process because there were
more people looking for fewer jobs. For
example, at the end of June, 1974, there
were 3.5 appliclants available for every
unfilled job opening, compared to June,
1975, when there were 14.5 applicants
for each opening. As unemployment
soared to record levels and Job Service
files swelled with job applicants, em-
By JOHN BRIDGES
Employment Relations Supervisor
ployer job orders declined drastically.
Yet, some hiring was still taking place.
Many of the traditional sources of job
openings dried up when major indus-tries
such as textiles and furniture
were hit by economic problems. Thanks
to the resourcefulness of Job Service
personnel who persisted in looking for
new sources of job openings, the Em-ployment
Security Commission has
stayed in the job business. Frankly, we
are proud of the way Job Service offices
are responding to the current economic
situation by helping large numbers of
North Carolina employers and job seek-ers
meet real needs—jobs and people
getting together when possible and
unemployment insurance being pro-vided
when necessary.
Recent changes in the economy have
also drastically changed the labor mar-ket.
During the years immediately
prior to the recession, the labor market
belonged to job seekers. Employers
experienced considerable difficulty in
trying to recruit an adequate, stable,
and productive workforce. Job Service
offices experienced a shortage of quali-fied
applicants also. Frequently, em-ployers
seemed willing to accept "a
warm body" that could be trained. Em-ployers
knew what they wanted but
had to hire what they could find or
leave the job unfilled. College graduates
could find jobs easily. Experienced
workers could pick and choose employ-ers
and, to a large extent, wages. Job
seekers experienced a virtual Utopia.
Then came the recession. Business
expansion slowed almost to a standstill.
Some companies closed their doors.
Other companies went part time. Re-search
and administrative jobs were
reduced to cut overhead costs. Hiring
still taking place became cautious. Em-ployers,
being very cost conscious and
aware of the availability of many unem-ployed
experienced workers, became
increasingly more selective in hiring.
Today, we find ourselves in an em-ployer's
job market. It is now the em-ployer
who is in control of the labor
market. Job seekers and Job Service
professionals must be aware of this
shift if jobs and people are to get to-gether
in today's labor market. No
longer does the college diploma guaran-tee
a good job. Ask any of the hundreds
of unemployed graduates among us.
Specialized qualification for specific job
requirements has become increasingly
important to the employer. Employers
have become less inclined to compro-mise
and train the unprepared. After
all, why go to the expense of training
someone new when an experienced
worker trained by another company is
probably looking for work? This has
resulted in a mismatch of unemployed
workers and job openings that require
specific training the workers have not
had. Because of this mismatch, it is pos-sible
to have large numbers of unfilled
job openings at the same time that
large numbers of persons are unem-ployed.
Job Service offices offer some assis-tance
to alleviate this mismatch be-tween
available skills and jobs. Train-ing
programs available under the Com-prehensive
Employment and Training
Act of 1973 (CETA) provide significant
assistance in the work-ready arena
since the employer is reimbursed for
part of the expense of training workers
in many instances. In times of economic
uncertainty and high unemployment,
CETA programs are highly relevant to
encourage employers to train workers.
Both on-the-job (OJT) and institutional
training provided under CETA, help
bring the skills of job seekers in line
with employer job requirements.
Additionally, the Work Incentive Pro-gram
(WIN) provides incentives both
to recipients of AFDC benefits and
employers to bring about productive
employment of AFDC receipients.
Both OJT and/or tax credit benefits
are available to employers interested
in WIN.
Another resource available in local-ities
classified as labor surplus areas is
the DMP-4 Program which provides
preference in the award of Federal
procurement contracts to employers
who agree to hire the disadvantaged.
Significant benefits are available to
both employers and disadvantaged job
seekers under the DMP 4 program.
Job Service offices also offer aptitude
ESC QUARTERLY 15
testing and employment counseling
which help job seekers find initial jobs
with which they appear to be qualified.
Another problem in bringing people
and jobs together is geography. Fre-quently,
the person with needed skills
is located elsewhere than the locality
of the job opening. Job Service offices
of the Employment Security Commis-sion
are addressing this problem with
several approaches. A computer-assisted
Job Bank now operates state-wide
to compile all jobs known to be
available in a geographic area of the
state into one list used in all Job Ser-vice
offices in the area. Hard to fill jobs
are offered on a statewide list. Some
lists are sent to other states. Addi-tionally,
resumes of applicants are
transmitted from one office to another
or statewide; Job Service offices distri-bute
these to employers who might be
interested. Based on recommendations
from local offices, the State office com-piles
a mini-resume of numerous out-standing
applicants onto a listing called
"Top Flight" and mails this listing to
several thousand employers across the
State monthly. Many otherwise un-likely
matches between geographically
separated jobs and people are made
through this medium.
A basic problem in matching people
and jobs is the chasm that exists be-tween
the expectations of employers
and the aspirations of job seekers. And
the real difficulty with this problem is
that reality is not necessarily involved
with either. Neither the employer ex-pecting
outstanding applicants for min-imum
wages nor the job seeker with
minimal qualifications aspiring to a
maximum salary is facing the facts. Job
Service personnel have to deal with
this disparity every day. To consumate
the job/people matching process Job
Service personnel help effect the best
compromise between the expectations
of the employer and the aspirations
of the job seeker, the result being the
best person for the job and the best job
for the person.
All things considered, Job Service
offices of the Employment Security
Commission possess tremendous po-tential
in terms of resources to bring
people and jobs together. The re-sources
and an adequate system for
delivery are in place. However, for the
system to work effectively, both em-ployers
and job seekers must use it
regularly. As indicated earlier, the
system is working. Thousands of
See JOB MARKET, Page 23
Mandatory Listing
WHAT IT IS, HOW IT WORKS
By DICK JOHNSON
Mandatory Listing Supervisor
The program of Veterans Employ-ment
Emphasis under Federal Con-tracts,
better known as the Mandatory
Listing Program, began on June 16,
1971, when President Richard M. Nixon
issued an executive order directing all
Federal agencies. Federal contractors
and their sub-contractors to list certain
employment openings with the employ-ment
service systems in all 50 states.
The purpose of the order at that time,
as well as the present, was to facilitate
the employment of thousands of re-cently
returned Vietnam war veterans.
One year later, in 1972, Congress
strengthened this executive order by
passing the Vietnam Era Veterans'
Readjustment Assistance Act, which
provided statutory authority to extend
the program of mandatory job listings.
Still more recently, in December of
1974, Congress updated the 1972 law
by revising the dollar amounts of
government contracts. This required
that the employers with Federal con-tracts
of $10,000 or more would have to
take affirmative action to employ and
advance in employment disabled and
Vietnam era veterans.
Because of the sweeping nature of
the mandatory listing legislation, many
questions arose on the part of govern-ment
contractors with respect to com-pliance
with the new law. First and
foremost, contractors were interested
in knowing just what was required of
them. Under the mandatory listing
statute, contractors and first-tier sub-contractors
with Federal contracts of
JOHNSON
$10,000 or more in a given year must
take affirmative action in the employ
ment and advancement of disabled and
Vietnam veterans. They must do this
by listing with the appropriate local
employment service office all suitable
employment openings that occur during
the performance of the contract. Open-ings
not generated by the contract, or
occuring at an establishment other than
the one wherein the contract is being
performed, are included under the pro-visions
of the law. Only job openings
orginating with independently oper-ated
corporate affiliates need not be
listed. In addition, the employer must
advise the local office or central office
of the Employment Security Commis-sion
of each of his hiring locations. This
must be done at the time the employer
becomes contractually bound to the
listing provision of the law.
Moreover, the employer must file a
quarterly report, indicating for each
hiring location the following: a) the
number of individuals who were hired
during the reporting period, b) the
number of those hired who were dis-abled
veterans, and c) the number of
those hired who were non-disabled
Vietnam era veterans. These reports
should be filed with the appropriate
ESC local office. Firms having more
than one establishment in North Caro-lina
may elect to file their reports with
the Central Office of the ESC, provided
such reports show activity in each hir-ing
location. Reporting forms are avail-able
through any of the ESC's 60 local
offices. All reports should be filed with-in
30 days of the close of the reporting
period. Each employer should retain a
copy of these reports for a period of at
least one year following final payment
under a given contract. Any report
may be examined upon request by an
authorized representative of the con-tracting
officer or the Secretary of
Labor.
Another popular question relating to
the mandatory listing program con-cerns
the legal definitions of a disabled
veteran and a Vietnam era veteran.
According to the mandatory listing law,
a disabled veteran is "any person
entitled to disability compensation
under the regulations administered by
16 ESC QUARTERLY
the Veterans Administration for a
disability rated at 30 percent or more,
or a person whose discharge or release
from active military duty was for a
disability incurred or aggravated in the
line of duty."
On the other hand, a Vietnam era
veteran must meet two criteria: a) he
or she must be a person who served on
active duty in the Armed Forces for a
period of more than 180 days, any part
of which occurred after August 5, 1964,
and was discharged or released there
from with other than a dishonorable
discharge, or was discharged or re-leased
due to a disabling illness or
injury incurred on active duty after
August 5, 1964, and b) who was so dis-charged
or released within the 48
months prior to his or her application
for employment.
Employers subject to the mandatory
listing law often ask how they should
go about listing their job openings with
the Employment Security Commission,
and what kinds of jobs should be listed.
First off, all bona fide job orders should
be listed through the nearest local
ESC office. These orders can be con-veyed
either in person or by telephone.
As to the types of jobs that must be
listed, the answer is "just about every-thing."
Under the mandatory listing
law, covered employers must notify the
ESC of all job openings in each of the
following categories: 1) production and
non production 2) plant and office 3)
laborers and merchanics 4) supervisory
and non-supervisory 5) technical,
executive, administrative, or profes-sional
openings paying up to $25,000
per year, and 6) full time, part time and
temporary employment of more than
three days duration.
Conversely, the affected employer
does not have to list job openings with
the ESC that fall into the following
categories: 1) jobs filled from regularly
established recall or rehire lists 2) jobs
filled from within the organization by
promotion or transfer 3) jobs for which
no consideration will be given to per-sons
outside of a special hiring arrange-ment,
including openings which the
employer proposes to fill from union
halls 4) Executive, administrative or
professional positions compensated at
an annual salary rate exceeding $25,000
5) temporary employment of three
days or less 6) any job opening for
which a deviation has been granted by
the Secretary of Labor.
Because of the compulsory nature of
the mandatory listing law, employers
are often initially skeptical of the qual-ity
of service provided by the Employ
ment Security Commission and the
See LISTING, Page 23
Implications For Rural Manpower
RICHEY COURT ORDERS
By PAUL KECK
Monitor Advocate
In 1972, the Western Region NAA-CP
(and others) issued a civil action suit
against U.S. Labor Secretary Peter J.
Brennan (and others) alleging that
migrant and seasonal farm workers
were being denied full manpower and
job placement services provided by law
and that the U.S. Employment Service
was in violation of the Constitution, the
Civil Rights Act, the Wagner Peyser
Act and the USDL's own regulations
and instructions. The action was a re-sult
of a petition filed with the Labor
Secretary on behalf of 16 organizations
and almost 400 specifically named indi-viduals
accusing the Rural Manpower
Service of discriminating against and
engaging in unlawful practices against
migrant and seasonal farm workers.
Ruling in favor of the plaintiffs, U.S.
District Court Judge Charles R. Richey
of the District of Columbia issued a
declaratory judgment and injunction
order on May 31, 1973, which stated
that: "Defendants have a Constitution-al,
statutory and regulatory obligation
to demand that federal and state agen-cies
that service minority farmworkers
provide them with the full level of ser-vices,
benefits and legal protection
guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to
the Constitution, the Wagner-Peyser
Act, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of
1964, and the respective implementing
regulations."
Subsequent court orders were is-sued.
One, dated July 11, 1974, said:
"Accordingly, Defendanct shall require
each state and local ES office providing
manpower services to:
"1. Provide migrant and seasonal
farmworkers the full range of Man-power
Services under terms and con-ditions
qualitatively equivalent and
quantitatively proportionate to those
provided non-farmworkers.
"2. Extend coverage of local Job
Bank order information to rural areas
and provide migrant and seasonal farm-workers
with assistance to enable them
to utilize such information on a non-discriminatory
basis.
"3. Take uniform, complete applica-tion
for each migrant and seasonal job
applicant utilizing ES offices, including
a meaningful history of the prior em-ployment,
training and educational
background of the applicant and a
statement of his desired training and/
or employment, and utilize such appli-cations
in providing applicants with,
and referring them to, available jobs
and training opportunities directed to
up-grading job capabilities; provided
an applicant may sign a written waiver
on the application form after the ES
official has explained the benefits at-tendant
upon taking such applications."
The order also required crew leaders
to comply with federal and state laws
with respect to vehicle registration,
wage, hours and working conditions.
It required ES agencies to develop af-firmative
action plans, and established
a referral system on violations of state
and federal laws.
Judge Richey's order was a signifi-cant
judgment against the manpower
services being provided farm workers
by the Labor Department, the respec-tive
states' Employment Service agen-cies
and their rural manpower divisions.
Abiding by this order, the USDL
issued directives to the states explicitly
broadening their services to farm-workers,
restructuring reporting pro-cedures
and establishing a monitoring
system.
Evolving from these directives were
the Secretary of Labor's "Thirteen
Points" which stated that:
1. Steps should be taken immediately
in both the Rural Manpower Service
and the Employment Service to begin a
consolidation process which would re-sult
in integrated services at the local
level. Such consolidation should be
aimed at offering a broader spectrum of
services to rural workers and employ
ESC QUARTERLY 17
ers and at providing sufficient re-sources
to accomplish the objective.
Surveys should be conducted quickly
by the states to insure that as many
resources as possible are directed to
provide services in rural areas.
2. Immediate action should be taken
to correct any civil rights violations
found during the review, whether it be
with regard to race, color, sex, age,
religion or national origin. Procedures
should be implemented to insure that
there is full compliance with civil rights
laws.
3. Steps should be taken to insure
that all child labor laws are being fol-lowed.
Job orders should not be ac-cepted
which provide incentives for
youths to work beyond the time schools
open.
4. The Employment Standards Ad-ministration
shall ensure that sufficient
resources are allocated to enforce ef-fectively
the agricultural minimum
wage where complaints are made or
violative conditions suspected. Addi-tionally,
Governors should be encour
aged to provide staffs outside the state
ES agency to assist farmworkers in
handling their complaints and in im-proving
their working and living con-ditions.
5. State ES agencies shall establish
mechanisms to handle workers' com-plaints
where job working conditions
and wage specifications have not been
delivered as promised.
6. The Occupational Safety and
Health Administration will continue
the implementation of its responsibility
for the work-related problems of farm-workers
and will address particular
attention to the areas of field sanitation
and safety, pesticides, housing and
Paul Keck, 28, was appointed
Monitor/ Advocate for the Employ-ment
Security Commission in July,
1974. Keck acts as a statewide
representative ensuring that agri-cultural
workers and rural people
have access to public employment
services. A graduate of Fayetteville
State, he attended UNC's Law
School before joining the Commis-sion
as an Interviewer in the Kins-ton
office.
In 1973, Keck transferred to the
Greensboro office as an Interviewer,
then to the central office in Raleigh
one year later as a Labor Market
Analyst.
His new responsibilities require
familiarity with child labor laws, the
Occupational Safety and Health Act,
the Crew Leader Registration Act
and other federal-statutes involving
agricultural labor.
transportation. OSHA will coordinate
its efforts with other agencies which
also have responsibility in these areas.
Care should be taken to insure that
present manpower compliance efforts
are maintained while OSHA is develop-ing
its program to assume these re-sponsibilities.
7. Responsibility for enforcement of
the Farm Labor Contractor Registra-tion
Act will be transferred to the
Employment Standards Administra-tion.
8. A vigorous effort to have frequent
payroll audits of foreign worker users
will be instituted to insure that the
adverse effect rate is being paid to
foreign workers who have been certi-fied
under the Immigration and Nation-ality
Act. Such payroll audits should
convert piece rates into hourly earnings
so that comparison may be made to the
hourly effect rate. The adverse effect
rate should also be set high enough to
insure that earnings of domestic work-ers
are not depressed by the presence
of foreign workers.
9. Regional offices will monitor the
States' performance prevailing wage
surveys to insure that the piece rates
are converted to hourly rates so that it
may be determined that, where appli-cable,
the established piece rates are in
accordance with the Federal and State
Minimum Wage Laws. Prior to referral,
each worker should be given a written
statement, in the language in -\vhich he
is most fluent, of all wage and pay-ment
schedules, field conditions and
other specifications which might influ-ence
his earnings.
10. The Interstate Clearance system
should be improved by giving a copy
and explaining the job order specifica-tions
to the worker in his most fluent
language, and by other means.
11. The Employment and Training
Administration (ETA) shall require
the State employment service agencies
to bring their rural day haul operations
into conformity with employment serv-ice
standards and policies. Where such
meet, the ETA shall consider alterna-tive
methods to provide service to
workers and employers.
12. Manual procedures will be pub-lished
relating to such subjects as con-flict
of interests, taking applications on
farmworkers, methods of guaranteeing
that no employer is served who is not in
compliance with any relevant law, and
insuring compliance with Social Secur-ity
procedures. Once published, perfor-mance
under these procedures is to be
closely monitored. In addition, existing
procedures contained in the Manual,
such as those on services to workers,
statistical reporting, discrimination,
and child labor performed by State
employment services agencies shall be
closely monitored.
13. The ETA will work to broaden
State Civil Service requirements where
necessary to allow individuals with
general farm experience, nonagricul
tural experience, and nonagricultural
college degrees to become eligible for
positions in the Employment Service
dealing with rural and other clientele.
The directives also instructed states
to establish a "monitor advocate" posi-tion
by July 1, 1974, to "influence poli-cy
decisions as they relate to equity of
access to manpower services for rural
residents and migrant farmworkers."
The advocate would "have the author-ity
to negotiate and resolve complaints
received in the State office (ES) and to
oversee the complaint and monitoring
systems in order to ensure smooth and
effective functioning. Where the sys-tem
appears not to be functioning prop-erly
or where more coordination with
other enforcement agencies is neces-sary,
the monitor/advocate should ar-range
to resolve these problems."
The monitor/advocate also:
—provides technical assistance to
local offices in establishing complaint
procedures from migrant and other
seasonal farmworkers.
—provides technical assistance to
operating divisions of the State Em-ployment
Service to ensure that moni-toring
procedures and directives
related to the Secretary's 13 Points are
properly developed and implemented
—reviews and takes corrective action
of complaints not resolved at the local
level; to elevate unresolved complaints
to the regional level and to process
interstate complaints
—works with the State Manpower
Services Councils to insure that rural
residents and migrant farmworkers'
needs are considered in the develop-ment
of projects and programs
—reviews self appraisal efforts to
determine violations of directives
—participates in administrative re-views
of local offices as needed
—works closely with ES staff to pro-vide
manpower services to rural resi-dents
and/or migrants and farmwork-ers
—works closely with minority group
representatives to ensure that prob-lems
of discrimination are resolved
—prepares quarterly reports on the
status of the implementation of the
Secretary's 13 Points.
Today there is a monitor/advocate
appointed in each state Employment
Security agency. A special review corn-
See RICHEY, Page 30
18 ESC QUARTERLY
VESMEETS THE CHALLENGE
By MALCOLM ANSPACH
State Veterans Employment Representative
An element synonymous with the
Employment Security Commission
since its conception, and one that will
remain so long as the agency exists, is
the Veterans Employment Service. Its
latitude includes every phase and ac-tivity
developed through the man-power
programs regardless of titles or
terminology assumed.
It has been more than success that
the Veterans Employment Service has
demonstrated during the past few
years. It's demonstrated a new way of
life in its professional endeavors. The
Veterans Employment Representa-tives
(VER's) of North Carolina have
expanded their efforts many fold to
attain a more broadened posture which
states, "Where the Public Employment
Service goes, so goes the Veterans Ser-vice."
This is evidenced in the fact that
many of our local Job Service offices
have created and maintained sound
public information programs and have
developed sound business and pro-fessional
standards in their dealings
with community leaders. This new look
contrasts with the old image of the
"8-to-5 ESC office," giving a dollar's
work for a dollar's pay. At last we have
realized that it is not the time that he
or she spends, but rather how he or she
spends it.
This welcome change in attitude and
image is bringing welcome and imme-diate
results. In chatting with some of
our younger VER's at our recent
conference in Goldsboro, I noted that
many are developing enduring working
relationships in their communities.
Among the comments: "You have only
one time in life to make that good first
impression," and, "A smile can always
capture a potential foe." With our new
employees practicing these human
relations techniques with such success,
it may not be long before they become
the teachers and some of us oldsters,
the students.
The Veterans Employment Service
is not a towering pillar, but a base of
strength through unity with our local
office associates. The old cliche of "win-ning
through cooperation" is more
easily said than done. It requires a con-stant
attitudinal evaluation by all of us
to capture the spirit of cooperation.
The National and Regional offices of
Employment and Training Administra-tion
(ETA) continually prod the Veter-ans
Employment Service, as they do
other programs, to effectively increase
their activities not only in the place-ment
field but in all of the many veter-ans
service activities. At times, this
prodding tends to produce apathy or
outright discouragement at the local
level. The tendency then is to develop
cellular structures in all levels of opera-tion
and management. In turn, the Em-ployment
Security Commission's top
executives are working on the same
ladder of development, promoting a
concept of team spirit and cooperation
extending from the local level to the
Central Office—the ultimate objective
being that the entire team will be able
to act with less intense supervision.
Such "teamwork" will go a long way
toward eliminating the buck-passing
and segmented feelings that have
built up over the years. How often have
you heard someone say, "Central Office
doesn't understand" or "more of the
same from Raleigh." On the other hand,
it is often said at Central Office that
"that manager" or "that office doesn't
get the big picture." Instead, let us all
join together in building cooperation
rather than building walls.
Now, exactly where does the Veter-ans
Employment Service fit into the
total effort? It is the consensus
throughout the state that the VER's
and Mandatory Listing Representa-tives
wear two separate and distinct
hats. The first "hat" is worn as over-seer
of veterans' activities and serv-ices;
the second, as the technician and
promoter of Job Service.
The first role provides for a coordi-nated
program of public information to
the general citizenry, employers and
community leaders to insure that all
services provided by the local office are
known and that they can effectively
support the community's needs. The
management team at the local office,
as guided by the manager, meets
periodically to discuss and plan its in-formational
approach; later, to develop
and execute its informational program.
The most successful and progressive
offices in the State utilize this team
approach to match needs to capabilities
and action with results.
Now let's look at the second hat that
each veterans' service member must
wear. In its wisdom, the Congress
has determined that veterans are
a separate and distinct class; inas-much
as they have supported our
country with their lives. Correspond-ingly,
laws have been enacted by
Congress in support of our veterans,
the latest two being Public Law 92-540
and Public Law 93-508. These pieces
of legislation simply state and restate
veterans benefits and priorities. Of
special interest to manpower organiza-tions
are provisions in these laws
concerning specifications for VER's.
For instance, PL 92-540 states that
each local office will be assigned one or
more VER's contributing 100% of his
time to servicing veterans. However,
the law does not designate specific
emphasis or time for each task involved
in either direct service (interviewing,
counseling, training and functional
supervision) or indirect contributions
(employer relations, veterans' organi-zation
involvement, public and com-munity
relations). It was through the
development of guidelines by the ESC
and our Labor Department representa-tives
that we are now obligated to
function in the indirect service area as
a representative of the entire organiza-tion—
only in direct service are we to
function as a VER.
At times, veterans groups have been
disappointed in the results of our ef-forts
and activities. That is, however,
no longer the case as they are now more
solidly behind us than ever—encourag-ing
a new thrust for our programs.
Moreover, the National and Regional
Departments of Labor and ETA have
expressed keen interest in ongoing
programs within North Carolina.
Among these is an experimental,
demonstration project developed by
VES during Fiscal Year 1975 to utilize
volunteers to assist in placing veterans
with problems. Funded by CETA (The
Comprehensive Employment and
Training Act of 1973), the program
was so successful that refunding for
Fiscal Year 1976 was triple the original
amount. Final reports indicate that
activities quadrupled projections in
placement, employer visits and job
development. It is anticipated that this
ESC QUARTERLY 19
program will become a regular ESC
budget item in the future.
This description is but one instance
of the brand of dedication that puts the
Job Service a step ahead when it comes
to service to others. In this spirit, we
intend to make a success not only of the
Veterans Service but each and every
program we are called upon to adminis
ter. With pardonable pride, we of the
Employment Security Commission may
boast of our service to the State, to our
applicants and to our veterans in this
time of economic hardship for the
benefit of all North Carolina citizens.
TCI WINS LEGION AWARD
By BILL ALLEN, PIO
Nearly 200 years ago, in October of
1783, General George Washington sat
perplexed as he contemplated the
future of our then infant nation at his
Mount Vernon home. Then as now, the
United States had recently completed
participation in a long and, at times,
unpopular war; then as now, the
country was struggling economically
with the ravages of recession and in-flation;
and then as now, the nation's
unemployment rate, particularly
among veterans, was alarmingly high.
It was with this latter thought in
mind that Washington feverishly
penned a letter to the delegates of the
Continental Congress meeting in Phila-delphia.
In short, the General pleaded
for employment justice for his troops:
"It would be a comfortless reflection for
any man, that after he may have con-tributed
to securing the rights of his
country at the risk of his life and ruin
of his fortune, there will be no provi-sion
or renumeration made to prevent
himself and family from sinking into
indigence and wretchedness."
The Congress responded to Washing-ton's
plea by passing a series of resolu-
ES Director John Fleming; national
American Legion official Robert
Tart; Peter Scott, President of TCI,
and Steve Carver, American Legion
State Commander.
tions that asked "artisans, farmers and
planters and all other men of skill to
duly consider those, who in the recent
domestic crisis have been of service to
their country, for any wholesome work
that is to be done."
And so it went. Following the Civil
War in 1865, Congress again resolved
"that in. grateful recognition of the ser-vices
and sufferings of those persons
honorably discharged from the military
and naval service of the country, it is
respectfully recommended that bank-ers,
merchants, farmers and persons
engaged in industrial pursuits give
them the preference for appointments
to remunerative situations and employ-ments."
As recently as 1972, Congress passed
the Vietnam Veterans Readjustment
Act which, among other things, re-quired
firms with Federal contracts
and certain sub-contractors to list their
job openings with the Public Employ-ment
Service, and required affirmative
action toward the screening and sub-sequent
hiring of disabled and other
veterans of the Vietnam Era.
While veterans and those involved
with veterans' benefits and vet organ-izations
can readily appreciate the tra-ditional
concern for our former service
men and women as expressed in this
legislation, such laws become empty
rhetoric if they are not backed up by
genuine interest on the part of the
nation's employer community. This is
especially true in the case of the Viet-nam
veteran in 1976. Because of the
widespread unpopularity of the South-east
Asian war, these veterans did not
receive the usual "hero's welcome"
that would have aided them in their
search for jobs upon returning home.
To make matters worse, the recent
recession—while generating nation-wide
unemployment rates of 9% and
more—caused veteran jobless rates to
jump as high as 30% and even 35% in
the early part of this year. More than
ever, the veteran was in need of candor
instead of clamor; sincerity instead of
deception; a job instead of a promise.
For many years now, the American
Legion has attempted to promote this
type of affirmative action among em-ployers
by sponsoring an annual awards
competition in each state in order to
give public recognition to those busi-ness
firms and their leaders who have
made the phrase "hire the vet" an on-going
commitment rather than an em-pty
slogan. Here in North Carolina, the
Legion's 1975 Veterans' Employer
Award was bestowed upon Terminal
Communications, Inc., a manufacturer
of computer terminal systems, based in
Raleigh. TCI is a wholly owned subsi-diary
of the Norden Division of United
Technologies, Inc., with home offices in
Norwalk, Connecticut. Norden Division
President, Peter Scott, was on hand to
accept the commemorative plaque
(jointly sponsored by American Legion
Post 297 and the Raleigh Job Service
office of the Employment Security
Commission) at ceremonies held Octo-ber
2nd at the Raleigh Women's Club.
In terms of measuring the depth of
TCI's commitment to hiring qualified,
job-seeking veterans, a brief statistical
review of their employment record
during calendar year 1974 should suf-fice.
During this period, TCI's staff
grew to a total of 654 employees of
which 268—a remarkable 40 percent-were
veterans. Of the 182 new male
employees hired by TCI in 1974, nearly
48 percent were veterans. Finally, of
the 276 employees hired by TCI in
1974, 113 of them—a full 41 percent-were
veterans. Such an achievement
goes well beyond any notion of a public
relations facade; rather, it reflects a
deep rooted conviction nurtured
through company experience that
veterans are generally more mature,
easier to train and better disciplined
than their non-veteran counterparts.
In short, hiring the vet not only makes
good headlines, it also makes good
sense.
Patriotism and Compassion
If nothing else, the presentation of
this award and others like it should
make two points crystal clear. First,
it should demonstrate to the public that
business firms do, indeed, have compas-sion
and a patriotic feeling of respon-sibility
to this nation's veterans. Sec-ond,
it should emphasize the need for
recommitment on the part of all em-ployers
to conserve our human as well
as our natural resources, thus giving
our veterans the dignity and respect
they so rightly deserve. With these
thoughts in mind, perhaps the most
fitting tribute to Terminal Communica-tion's
notable achievement would be to
recognize that, through it all, "they
didn't forget."
20 ESC QUARTERLY
BESR EXAMINES STATE WAGE RATES
By DAVE GARRISON
Assistant Director, Bureau of Employment Security Research
In June, 1975, the Bureau of Employ-ment
Security Research began its bien-nial
study. North Carolina Wage Rates
and Weekly Earnings in Selected Occu-pations,
of wage rates and weekly earn-ings
for occupations in selected manu-facturing
and nonmanufacturing esta-blishments
in North Carolina. The sur-vey
serves a two-fold purpose: wage
and salary data are developed to meet
the continuing and increasing need and
demand for current wage information
in North Carolina manufacturing and
nonmanufacturing establishments. The
data is also useful to both prospective
and established firms in studying exist-ing
wage patterns and in relating a
firm's wage structure to that of the
industry as a whole.
Each biennium, two complete ran-dom
samples of firms are selected from
a statewide listing of employers cover-ed
by the North Carolina Employment
Security Law and are based on the pre-valence
of the industry groups being
studied and the prominence of these
groups in the three geographical re-gions
of the State—Mountain, Pied-mont,
and Coastal Plains. For the 1975
surveys the samples chosen consisted
of approximately 800 manufacturing
firms and 800 nonmanufacturing esta-blishments.
Manufacturing firms
selected for participation were sent two
survey questionnaire forms, one for
production occupations relevant to the
particular industry, and one for non-production
occupations in four areas of
employment; namely, clerical, adminis-trative,
maintenance, and custodial
and material movement. The latter of
these forms was sent to the sampled
firms selected from nonmanufacturing
establishments. These establishments
encompass the construction; public
utilities; trade; finance, insurance, and
real estate; and the services industry
groups.
The selection of occupations for re-view
in the production wage survey is
based on the frequency of requests, and
on the basis of their representation in
each industry. Some of the jobs are also
selected because of their cross-industry
prevalence to enable comparisons of
wage data for the same occupation in
different industries. This can be noted
particularly in the survey of weekly
earnings whereby all occupations sur-veyed
can be found throughout all
establishments, both manufacturing
and nonmanufacturing. Definitions for
the job titles in the survey of produc-tion
jobs are taken from the Dictionary
of Occupational Titles, 1965, while the
occupations studied for weekly earn-ings
represent descriptions from the
DOT and definitions used by the U.S.
Department of Labor in conducting
similar surveys for various areas of
North Carolina.
Upon completion of the preliminary
preparations for the survey, such as
selecting the occupations to be studied,
preparing the job descriptions, and
selecting the firms to be sampled,
questionnaires were mailed directly to
those firms included in the samples.
Employers are asked to mail the survey
questionnaires to the Bureau of Em-ployment
Security Research for pro-cessing.
Although some establishments
have chosen not to participate, about 45
percent of all those contacted have
responded to date, and, hopefully, the
response will reach 60 percent. Follow-up
contacts of firms not responding to
the initial request were made in early
July, and replies to the second requests
are being received. Completed quest-ionnaire
forms are analyzed, edited,
and coded in preparation for keypunch-ing
and tabulating. Publication of the
survey results is expected soon. Re-lease,
however, is dependent upon
the time involved in receiving the re-sponse
necessary for adequate and reli-able
wage information and on the avail-ability
of data processing and computer
time.
The completed publication of wage
rates and weekly earnings will be pre-sented
in two parts. Part One will con-sist
of hourly wage rates by occupa-tions
on a Statewide, regional, and
industrial basis. Data will be weighted
averages of the wage information com-piled.
In order to prevent distortions
by exceedingly high and low rates, the
wage rate range will be reported for 90
percent of the workers employed in the
surveyed occupations. Weekly earnings
will be reflected in Part Two of the
survey publication. The most preva-lent
starting salary and the most pre-valent
weekly earnings for the 38
surveyed occupations will be summar
ized by broad industry groups on a
statewide and regional basis.
Appreciation is to be extended to all
cooperating employers since their par-ticipation
makes these surveys possi-ble.
75 WAGES NINE
PERCENT HIGHER
THAN YEAR BEFORE
The monthly average of workers
covered by unemployment insurance
during the fourth quarter of 1975 was
1,694,274 people and they were paid
$3.7 million in wages.
The total does not include those
workers covered by the Special Unem-ployment
Assistance Act, only those
under the regular North Carolina law.
The average paid all covered work-ers
during October, November and
December was $168.33, a nine percent
increase over wages paid during the
similar quarter in 1974. Highest week-ly
wages were earned by paper and
allied products workers. This amount
was $240.27.
Major industries and their average
wages include:
Construction $182.99
Textiles $156.56
Furniture $156.75
Apparel $116.89
Food Products $175.47
Lumber Products $142.66
Tobacco $217.87
Electrical Equipment $208.93
Chemical $230.47
Nonelectrical Machinery $228.54
Transportation, Commerce and
Utilities $229.40
Trade $149.36
Finance, Insurance and
Real Estate $182.24
Service $155.66
Of the 10 metropolitan counties in
North Carolina, employers in Forsyth
County paid the highest average week-ly
wages. The figure was $207.47.
ESC QUARTERLY 21
Recruitable Labor
And Industrial Development
By DONALD BRANDE
Director, Bureau of Employment Security Research
In January, 1951, the Bureau of
Employment Security Research re-leased
a new publication, "Labor
Resources in North Carolina for Indus-trial
Development," which was devised
to describe the recruitable labor
considered available in North Carolina
by county, for manufacturing employ-ment.
Estimates were prepared by the
North Carolina Employment Security
Commission local office managers for
each county served by his or her office.
The reports were submitted to the
Bureau of Employment Security
Research for compilation and publica
tion. Not only were the current job
seekers and those presently unem-ployed
included, but also potential
workers from such groups as house-wives
who would enter the labor force
if suitable jobs were available, workers
commuting out of the area who would
likely choose local employment, youths
expected to join the labor force of the
area, older workers not being absorbed
into industrial employment, and agri-cultural
workers ready for full-time
industrial employment. The experience
of these job seekers and potential
workers was reflected in two cate-gories:
the estimated skilled and
semiskilled workers, and those persons
deemed trainable for jobs requiring
skills. These summaries of recruitable
labor by county were published bi-monthly,
but later they were released
on a quarterly basis.
As the reports became more useful
to prospective employers or existing
employers planning facility expansions,
the report was revised. Modifications
have occurred including the addition of
high school graduates available for
entry into the labor force, the exclusion
of the breakout of recruitable workers
by race, and the elimination of the age
barrier which previously included only
the under 45 years old group deemed to
be adaptable, trainable, and referable
for manufacturing jobs. The major
revision, however, was changing the
occupational classification of workers
from the skill levels to the experience
concept as defined by the Dictionary of
Occupational Titles, Third Edition,
1965.
Evolving from the estimate of re-cruitable
workers for industrial expan-sion
was an estimate of labor resources
for a specific site. With economic
changes promoting more industrializa-tion
in North Carolina, county estimates
were not sufficient to meet special
needs of groups considering specific
plant locations in North Carolina. To
provide information relating to a
central point or specific location, the
Bureau of Employment Security
Research developed from the county
data a report entitled "Estimate of
Recruitable Workers for Industrial
Expansion." With the specific location
(usually a town or city) as a central
point, these estimates depicted the
estimated available labor supply in the
central county, plus the labor supply in
portions of adjacent counties; i.e., the
area within a 15, 20, and 25-mile radius
of the plant location. The final data was
determined by applying a percentage
of the county population falling within
the specified radius to the various
aspects of the corresponding county or
counties" estimate of recruitable pro-duction
workers.
Although the estimates apparently
leaned toward the conservative side
and served a useful purpose over the
years, controversy over the number of
persons available for production jobs
arose in the early 1970's. Some prospec-tive
employers as well as those planning
expansions found the figures too high
when recruiting for staffing, while
other groups found the estimates too
conservative to attract new industry to
North Carolina. These conflicting
opinions prompted a complete change
in the concept of the quarterly release,
and in March, 1974, a new report,
"Active Job Applicants Registered for
Work with ESC Offices by Applicants'
County of Residence," was published.
The quarterly report now being
released shows by county the number
of active job applicants registered for
work as reported by the local ESC
offices, and the data is compiled
through the Commission's Automated
Reporting System. The basic concept,
therefore, was changed from an esti-mate
of recruitable labor to an actual
count of persons seeking employment
who are considered available for refer-ral
to job openings or training situa-tions.
When using this county informa-tion
in connection with industrial
development efforts, it should be
considered that all job seekers do not
register for work with local ESC offices.
Many registered applicants do not keep
their applications active, not all appli-cants
will be interested in production
work, and industries seldom draw
workers from a single county, so
counties surrounding the central site
should also be considered.
In conjunction with the quarterly
release, the "Report on Active Job
Applicants" for a specific location is
developed upon request. This report is
similar in development and presenta-tion
to the "Estimate of Recruitable
Workers for Industrial Expansion."
Data is developed for a specific location
and a given radius, usually 25 miles,
showing the number of registered ap-plicants
with substantial work ex-perience
and those with limited or no
work experience. Additional informa-tion
shows the number of registered
applicants for each of nine occupational
classes including the three manufac-turing
categories—processing, machine
trades, and bench work. Estimates are
prepared to meet the continuing
demand for a readily available analysis
of recruitable workers for selected
North Carolina sites. The reports which
are used extensively by the Division
of Economic Development, public
utility companies, chambers of com-merce,
industrial development groups,
and prospective employers have
become a major factor in attracting
new industry to the State. For the past
several years, over 900 of these reports
have been developed each year.
22 ESC QUARTERLY
INTERVIEWER
Continued from Page 6
were places that ESC personnel visited
during the day to take claims so that
the main office wouldn't get crowded.
(Crowded?) As I supposed, I was in for
another, never-to-be-forgotten exper-ience.
Four of us lugged a dozen or so
boxes of claims cards into a station
wagon and drove to one of the larger
textile mills in town. Needless to say,
we took claims all day and well into
the night. The atmosphere was some-what
quieter, somewhat less hazy, but
every bit as busy. There was, however,
one significant difference. Unlike the
office, we didn't have the advantage of
familiar surroundings. Here, claimants
felt more entitled to argue a point if
they felt they were being misunder-stood
or mistreated.
Boy, what a time we had! All through
the months of November and December
we would go out to a spot point in the
morning, come in late at night, and
then begin the arduous process of
figuring, tallying and filing. Work days
soon expanded rapidly—10, 12, 14,
sometimes even 16 and 18 hours a day
as well as any Saturday that you were
able to make it into the office. Although
new people were being hired daily, it
seemed that the work load increased
twice as fast.
By January of 1975, two new Federal
unemployment programs— Federal
Supplemental Benefits (FSB) and
Special Unemployment Assistence
(SUA)—had started. With the addition
of these two programs, what had been
an impossible work load nearly
doubled. News of these benefit pack
ages had been in the papers and on TV
three weeks before anyone in the office
had heard of them. When our FSB and
SUA training manuals finally arrived,
the programs were apparently still so
new that the instructor didn't know
what he was teaching us. Nevertheless,
we plowed ahead. Where there wasn't
a rule, we made our own and used it
until we were told otherwise. As the
snake-like lines inside and outside the
office grew ever longer, I began to
think that the entire city of Gastonia
was signing up for unemployment
benefits.
By spring and early summer, the
warmer weather finally arrived and
the crisis finally began showing signs
of easing.
So what am I doing now? Well,
I'm still at the same ESC office
—
only now they call me an Assistant
Supervisor, which is a euphemism for
"jack of all trades." I help where help is
needed, answer claimants' questions,
and try my best to straighten out prob-lems
between the staff, applicants and
the Central Office in Raleigh. Oh, yes;
because I was born and raised in Waco,
N.C. (birthplace of former heavyweight
champion, Floyd Patterson), I have also
gained the title of "bouncer."
To paraphrase Walter Cronkite,
"that's the way it was" during the past
nine months in the Gastonia ESC office.
While it is a time that I'll never forget,
it is hoped that it will soon become
ancient history.
LISTING
Continued from Page 17
other members of the public employ-ment
system. This need not be the case,
as the ESC and its sister agencies pro-vide
several distinct advantages to
both the employer and the applicant.
Chief among these is the nationwide,
computerized Job Bank system. With
nearly every local office in nearly every
state having access to job opening
information nationwide, the employer
receives the widest possible exposure
for his job opening, and the applicant,
in turn, has a broad selection of jobs
to which he can be referred. Moreover,
in 40 years of operation, no agency of
the public employment system has ever
charged a fee for any of its services.
Here in North Carolina, a statewide
network of 80 Veterans Employment
Representatives (VER's) maintains
close contact with identified mandatory
listing employers. Their efforts are
augmented by six interviewers who
have full time responsibility for manda-tory
listing employer contacts and
services. Of the 60 ESC local offices,
one has as few as seven mandatory
listing employers, and one has as many
as 550! Many of these employers are
"clients of long standing," and they are
aware of ESC capabilities for service.
The program has, however, identified
some employers who have never used
the "Job Service," thus providing ex-cellent
opportunities to develop open-ings
and realize additional placements.
At present, the mandatory listing
program has reached the point of
almost complete identification of cov-ered
employers. To this group will be
added a significant number of sub-contractors
who bear equal responsi-bilities
under the law. The scope of this
operation and its ultimate potential for
the Job Service could be very beneficial
to both veterans and employers, as
well as to the public employment sys-tem
in general.
Obviously, the current economic
situation has had adverse impact on the
Mandatory Listing Program, as it has
on all types of employment projects.
Job openings during this period have
increased by small percentages only.
As our industries revive, it is antici-pated
that all contractual obligations
under the law will be filled and job
possibilities will become more numer-ous.
JOB MARKET
Continued from Page 16
people and jobs are finding each other
through Job Service offices. But there
are still many employers and job
seekers who for various reasons do not
utilize Job Service, offices fully. For
example, many employers will list their
unskilled and productions job openings
with these offices, but not their pro-fessional,
technical, and managerial
openings. Yet, the very person they
need for these openings may be looking
for employment through a Job Service
office. The more the system is used, the
better it works.
In pursuit of increased public and
employer acceptance and use of Job
Service offices, the Agency recently
adopted a colorful new Job Service logo
in red, white, and blue. Stationery and
brochures are being updated. Publicity
is being expanded in all media. Both
employers and job seekers know we are
here. Everyone knows we provide un-employment
insurance. After all,
where else could one go? But unem
ployment insurance is only one job
service, meant to help people for whom
we cannot immediately find jobs. And
JOBS are the basic reason Job Service
offices exist across North Carolina.
In North Carolina, the Job Service
office is the place where people and jobs
get together. Job Service offices of the
Employment Security Commission
mean people—people helping people
with jobs.
JOB SEEKER
Continued from Page 13
you are "selling your services." You are
marketing your qualifications and your
abilities on which the employer can
make a profit.
Do you have the job market informa-tion,
a list of prospective employers,
your inventory and resume, and are
you now thoroughly knowledgeable
about the information printed herein?
If your answer is "yes", all you need to
get that right job is determination.
Are you ready?
ESC QUARTERLY 23
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H. R. 10210 is a bill which would af-fect
significant changes to the nation's
unemployment insurance program.
Essentially designed to restore a
desired solvency to unemployment
insurance, the bill hikes the wage
base upon which employers pay un-employment
insurance taxes, pro-vides
coverage to additional workers
in the United St