THE WHITE HOUSE                      Office of the Press Secretary _________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release                             April 14, 1993       	                             REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT                       AT SUMMER JOBS CONFERENCE  	     	                               Hyatt Regency                         Crystal City, Virginia     11:22 A.M. EDT  	      	     THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.  The speech that  Octavius gave says more than anything I will be able to say today  about why it's important to give all of our young people a chance to  get a work experience and to continue to learn, to merge the nature  of learning and work; why it's important to honor the efforts of  people like Jerry Levin and Nancye Combs and Pat Irving and all of  those who are here.   	      	     I want to thank the Secretaries of Labor and Education  and all the people who work with them for sponsoring this; and my  good friend, Governor Wilder, for being here and for speaking; and  all of the business and local community leaders from the city and  county and state level from around America who are here.  	      	     This has been a pretty fun day.  (Laughter.)  I loved  hearing the young people sing.  It was music to my ears because it is  their future that we are really struggling about.  (Applause.)  A  year and a half ago I began the quest to seek the presidency because  I was concerned about their future.  Because I believe that our  country, which had always been a beacon of hope for the young, had  too little opportunity, was too divided among ourselves across lines  of income and race and region and other ways, without a vision to  take us into the future.   	      	     I entered with the hope that together we could create  more opportunity and insist on much more responsibility from all of  our people.  But in the process we might recreate the best of  America's community, knowing that together we could always to more  than we could individually and that we might secure our future. 	      	     All of you here today are committed to that.  The 1,000  jobs that Jerry Levin has committed Time-Warner to is symbolic of the  commitments made by many of the private sector people who are here,  and those who are around the country.  The work that Nancye Combs  does, and the successes of all the young people like those on this  stage, and especially the eloquent statement Octavius Jeffers -- all  those things show that together we know what we need to do, and we're  on the right track. 	      	     Last July when I was traveling across America's  heartland in my luxurious bus, I visited Seneca High School in  Louisville, Kentucky.  And there I met young people and business  people who were participating in the Louisville Education and  Employment Partnership.  I saw what Nancye Combs talked about today.   I saw how the young people were making an extra effort to succeed  both in school and at work.  I saw, as I have seen many times in my  own state, the principle illustrated that Octavius has talked about  -- that for millions of American young people it is really an  impediment to both their learning and their ability to be good  workers to draw a sharp dividing line between what is work and what  is learning. 	      	     In the world in which we are living, the average young  person will change the nature of work seven or eight times in a  lifetime.  We must learn to merge the work world and the learning  world much better.  And we must determine that all of our young  people see the opportunities that some of them have had showcased  here today.   	      	     Whether you're in business or in government or in  education, you know that we have a big job to do when it comes to  building a future that really, honestly includes opportunity for all  of our people.  There are still a lot of people who say, well, things  are pretty good here in Washington and everything's fine; the best  thing we can do about this whole thing is nothing.  They all have  jobs.  (Laughter.)  All the people who say that.  (Applause.)   	      	     They all have health insurance.  They all have a pretty  good education.  And they all have a pretty secure knowledge that  they'll be okay no matter what happens.  I say that not to be either  political or unduly critical, but to point out that one of the great  challenges of this age for every advanced nation -- everyone -- is to  fully develop the capacities of all of its people, and then find work  for them to do. 	      	     All the European countries have higher unemployment  rates than we do, but also stronger support systems for the  unemployed.  The Japanese unemployment rate has been going up.   They're going to adopt a stimulus that, even if you count it in its  most rigorous terms, is three or four times bigger than the one that  I have proposed to create jobs.  	      	     In West Germany alone, the unemployment rate is now  about as high as ours.  This is a big problem for advanced nations.   It costs a lot of money to add an extra employee, with a lot of  pressure from low-wage producers in other countries that are growing  their own economies and trying to provide new opportunity for their  people.   	      	     But it is especially important for America for two  reasons:  One is, we have a whole lot of folks who, unless we move  aggressively, will not have the education and skills we need to be  competitive and productive in a nation like this.  The second is,  even if we educate them all, if there aren't jobs they will be robbed  of the fruits of their educational labors.  People need to be able to  work in this country.  (Applause.) 	      	     We have always had some unemployment; and, indeed, some  of it is normal.  You've always got some people leaving jobs and  moving around the country and doing first one thing and another.  We  have now, at this moment in our history, the necessity for all big  organizations, including the government, to reexamine the way they  are organized and who ask whether there are too many people working  at some kinds of jobs.  But in the whole, we must still be able to  create jobs in a country like America, to provide people with the  chance to work.   	      	     It's going to be difficult for me to make the welfare  reform proposals that I will make to Congress in the next couple of  months -- it's going to be hard for me to make those work if, at the  end of all this work, to get off welfare there isn't a job.   (Applause.) 	      	     So we have two tasks.  One is to develop the capacity of  the American people to perform without regard to race or income or  the circumstances of their birth.  The other is to make sure that  there are some opportunities for them to bring to bear for their  talent and to be rewarded with a paycheck.  It is a great challenge.   I do not pretend that all of the answers are simple.  But I know if  you want to ask the American people, all of them, to be more  responsible, if you want to recreate a sense of community in this  country that bridges the lines of race and income and region, you  have got to have opportunity in that mix.  	      	     A part of our vision for America has to be a future for  every young person in this country who's willing to play by the rules  and work hard and strive for the end of the rainbow.  There has to be  something at the end of that rainbow.  And that is what we are  basically here to talk about today:  What can we all do as partners,  recognizing none of us can do it alone, to develop the capacities of  our people to succeed wherever they live and whatever their  background.  And then, what can we do to make sure that there's  something there for them to do?  	     The summer jobs program we're discussing today is an  integral part of that plan, because it will promote the values of  work and opportunity and fairness, community.  It will put the people  first, and it does have a partnership between the public and private  sector. 	      	     I said when I addressed the United States Congress in  February on this program that I would seek to create about 700,000  extra summer jobs from government sources and then challenge the  American business community to meet that target so that we can create   more than a million new summer jobs over and above what had been  created before. 	      	     Many, many people have responded to that challenge.  And  Jerry is just a shining example of that which has been replicated in  this room and around the country -- people who are going to do more  than they otherwise would in the private sector to give young people  a work experience.  And it is terribly important. 	      	     I want to emphasize that this summer jobs program is  part of an overall commitment to increase the capacity of the  American people -- from retraining defense workers who lose their  jobs and other adults who need to acquire new skills; to improving  the transition from school to work for young people who don't go to  college but do need at least two years of post-high school training  either on the job or in a community college or a vocational setting,  so that they can be competitive workers, making it possible for more  people to go on to college who do want to go. 	      	     All these things are part and parcel of a comprehensive  plan.  It's also important, as I said, that we create more jobs.  The  emergency jobs program that I asked the Congress to adopt would  create a half a million extra jobs over the next year and a half, and  that would reduce the unemployment rate by a half a percent.  It  would also enable us to absorb more young people coming into the work  force in jobs that otherwise will not be created. 	      	      It also will help a lot of cities and counties to  invest in things that need to be done at the grass-roots level -- projects long delayed, water projects, sewer projects, park projects,  new industries and particularly in small and medium-size communities  -- a whole range of things that will improve the economy and improve  the environment.   	      	     The summer jobs program is an important part of that  because we have tried for the first time, through the work of the  Labor Department and the Education Department and through reaching  out to people like you, to make this more than just a one-shot summer  jobs program; to integrate it with private sector efforts; to  hopefully replicate it in each coming summer; to move these young  people into further educational opportunities and to further job  opportunities; and to have a strong, meaningful education component  to these summer jobs -- something that the United States government  has never fully emphasized before.   	      	     A lot of these young people, as you well know, because  they come from difficult backgrounds, because they go to school in  difficult and challenging circumstances, need extra help in building  their basic skills in math and language, reasoning and in other  areas.  And a lot of educational studies show that young people who  have difficulty in school often forget as much as 30 percent of what  they learn over the summer and then that has to be repeated the next  year.   	      	     What we are trying to do here is to give people the  opportunity to learn good work habits and to reinforce their learning  skills and to put them together; and then, hopefully, over the next  couple of years, if our entire program passes, to give every school  in this country the opportunity to have a good work and learning  environment.   	      	     There will be more applied academics, more opportunities  for people to learn and work during the school year, so that this  will not simply be an isolated moment for these young folks, but will  be a part of building a whole new educational experience, a whole new  work experience, and moving on a pathway to a better future. 	      	     The summer jobs programs are not designed to be make- work jobs.  They're designed to make a future for the people holding  the job.  And that's what they will do.  In the process, they'll help  to build local communities, to strengthen local economies, to solve  local problems.  Real jobs -- renovating housing, repairing public  buildings, doing clerical work, providing nursing assistance in  hospitals, supervising and training children at child care centers,  and learning all the way.  Challenging young people to learn while  they earn, but letting them earn. 	      	     You know, it's very difficult to make a case to people  who have never seen opportunity on their own street that they should  do this, that, or the other thing if there's no evidence of the  opportunity that's at the end of the effort.  I have not been sparing  in going for the last year-and-a-half into places where it isn't  exactly popular to say it, and say I wanted to reform the welfare  system; I wanted to toughen child support; I wanted to require people  to work; I was sick and tired of people being irresponsible in the  use of guns on the streets, and I wanted to change all that.  But if  you're going to summon people to greater responsibility, you have to  reward them when they do the right thing with opportunity.   (Applause.) 	      	     The young people we propose to put to work under our  program will spend 90 hours learning basic skills, such as math,  reading, writing -- either on the job in the classroom.  They will  stretch their minds as well as work up a sweat.  They will have a  sense of accomplishment.  It will literally be a summer challenge,  but a challenge that will take them into a different life. 	      	     So I want to ask all of you to support this effort even  as I, as your President, support your effort.  At the end of the  summer we will evaluate all the young people who participate.  We'll  see whether they, instead of falling behind over the summer  academically as too many young people do, they stayed even or moved  ahead.  I suspect that they will.   	      	     This summer, Secretary Reich and Secretary Riley and I  will be visiting many of your communities.  We'll really try to learn  from you which of these efforts are working, what we should do next  summer, how we can build it in to what goes on during the school  year, how we can build in our job training efforts and the works that  we do with your companies to make sense of this whole thing -- so  that we maximize the impact of the taxpayer dollar and your private  investments as well.  	      	     We want to honor the companies and the communities, the  business leaders and the young people who do the very best jobs this  summer.  And, again, I want to say to all of you in private business  who have matched our effort, I thank you.  And to all of you who  haven't, and those across the country who may listen or learn about  this event today, I want to implore other private employers to  stretch a little bit to give other young people a chance to work this  summer.  I'm telling you, we cannot go through another 10 years when  we don't give these children anything to say yes to.  If we exhort  them to do right, we've got to be able to reward them.  (Applause.) 	      	     When the other speakers were talking, I was sitting up  here on the platform, listening and reveling.  And they got talking  about work, and I got to thinking about all the different things I've  done to make a living in my life.  When I was 13, I made a very  foolish short-term business investment:  I set up a comic book stand  and sold two trunks full of comic books.  Made more money than I had  ever had in my life.  But if I had saved those trunks, they'd be  worth $100,000 today.  (Laughter.) 	      	     That does not mean young people should not be  entrepreneurial.  It just means that you can't foresee a generation  ahead.  I have mowed yards and cleared land and built houses and  worked in body shops and the parts departments of a car dealership.   And I've done a lot of different things for a living.  Some  people say I got into politics to escape work.  (Laughter.)   	      	     I learned something from every job I ever had.  But I  grew up in a generation where I literally did not know a living soul  without regard to race or income who wanted to work who didn't have a  job.  I grew up in a generation when all you had to really say to  people is, get an education and you'll be all right.  You'll get a  job and you'll make more money next year than you did this year.  Now  I live in a generation full of people, most of whom don't make any  more money in real dollars than they did 10 years ago and they're  working longer hours and they're paying more for the basics of life.   And we are now wondering whether we can create the jobs that these  young people want. 	      	     Now, I want to close by reemphasizing these two things:   It doesn't matter what kind of economic policies this administration  pursues, or how much productivity increases there are in the private  sector, if young Americans don't get a good education, don't learn  how to work and can't be productive, those jobs will not be created  in this country.  Machines will do the work or the work will be done  off-shore by people who have the same skill levels and can work for a  third or a fourth or a fifth the wages.  So nothing we can do  economically will matter unless we build the skills and capacities of  America's work force.  And anybody that pretends otherwise is just  kidding.   	      	     On the other hand, we need to be honest.  Every wealthy  country in the world, including the United States, is having  difficulty creating jobs.  If I knew everything that needs to be done  I'd be glad to tell you and we   could just call off the whole  deliberations of Congress and everything else.  I don't have all the  answers.  But I know this:  Doing nothing is not the answer.   (Applause.) 	      	     And so the jobs program that I have presented to  Congress, with the summer jobs, with the money for the cities and the  counties, through the Community Development Program, with the  infrastructure money, is a small part of a big budget.  It is an  attempt to engage in an experiment to see whether or not, with the  economy recovering in terms of corporate profit, we can give a little  boost to it, give opportunities to young people, create a half a  million jobs and maybe get the engine going again. 	      	     Most of the jobs in this program are going to be jobs in  the private sector, not government jobs, even though it's government  money.  And the lion's share of the work in rebuilding the American  economy obviously will come from the private sector.  That's the kind  of system we have and it works pretty well.   	      	     But this is the challenge we have.  So I ask all of you  here today to support the summer jobs program, to ask your friends  and neighbors to support it, to go back home and ask your employers  to make a little extra effort; to do what you can to help me pass the  funds to create the 700,000 jobs that the United States government  should create this summer, so that together we can have this  partnership.  Because more than anything else, we have to give a  future -- a future that our young people can believe in.   	      	     We need to send them a message that here in America if  you study hard and work hard, if you obey the law and contribute  something to your community, you will be rewarded by your country.   You can build a future from you own dreams.  	      	     That has always been the promise of America.  Together  that's what this summer of challenge needs to be:  a reaffirmation of  the promise of America for so many young people to whom that promise  has been an illusion.  We can make it a reality. 	      	     Thank you very much.  (Applause.)