White House Press Release, Message from President Harry S. Truman to the United States Congress

19 HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE January 19, 1948 CONFIDENTIAL: To be held in STRICT CONFIDENCE and no por- tion, synopsis or intimation to be given out or published until the READING of the President's Message has begun in either the Senate or House of Representatives. Extreme care must therefore be exercised to avoid premature publi- cation. CHARLES G. ROSS Secretary to the President TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES: I transmit herewith Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1948, under the Reorganization Act of 1945, which transfers the United States Employment Service and the Bureau of Employment Security to the Department of Labor. The United States Employment Service is now in the Department of Labor by temporary transfer under authority of Title I of the First War Powers Act, 1941, while the Bureau of Employment Security is at present a constitutent unit of the Federal Security Agency. This pl will place the adminis- tration of the employment service and unemployment compensation functions of the Federal Government in the most appropriate loca- tion within the Executive establishment and will provide for their proper coordination. I find that this proposed reorganization is necessary to accomplish the following purposes of the Reorganization Act of 1945: (1) to group, coordinate, and consolidate agencies and NARAY functions of the Government according to major purposes, (2) to increase the efficiency of the operations of the Government, and (3) to promote economy to the fullest extent consistent with the efficient operation of the Government. The United States Employment Service was established in the Department of Labor by the Wagner-Peyser Act in 1933. It was later transferred under Reorganization Plan No. I, effective July 1, 1939, to the Social Security Board in the Federal Security Agency. After the creation of the War Manpower Commission, the United States Employment Service was placed under that Commission by Executive Order No. 9247 of September 17, 1942. Shortly after the Japanese surrender the Service was transferred to the Department of Labor by Executive Order No. 9617. Both of these transfers were made under the temporary authority of Title I of the First War Powers Act. The provision of a nation-wide system of public employment offices, which assists workers to get jobs and employers to obtain labor, belongs under the leadership of the Secretary of Labor. Within our Federal Government the Department of Labor is the agency primarily concerned with the labor markot and problems of employment. The Department of Labor already has within its organization many, but not all, of the resources needed for the full performance of this role. It has a broad understanding of working conditions and the factors in labor turnover. Through the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it develops extensive information on the long-term trends in employment and on the occupational cheracteristics of the labor force. Through the Apprentice Training Service it promotes the development of needed skills. I consider it necessary and desir- able that these facilities of the Department of Labor should now be augmented by the other major operating agencies in the field of employment -- the United States Employment Service and the Bureau of Employment Security. These agencies are concerned, as is the Depart- ment of Labor, with the full and proper employment of American workers. The results achieved by the Employment Service after more than two years of operation within the Department of Labor strongly justify the decision to place these functions permanently within (OVER)