‘Insane Tragedy,’ Labor Secretary Says : Literate Workers Become Scarcer, Brock Tells Panel

Labor Secretary William E. Brock III, warning of an impending shortage of educated workers, said Tuesday that “it’s an insane tragedy” that 700,000 of the nation’s high school graduates each year “can’t read the damned diploma.”

Brock, testifying at a Senate Labor Committee hearing, noted that the nation’s youth population is declining, making literate young people a highly prized commodity for business.

“Companies, colleges and the military may find themselves competing for 18-year-olds,” the labor secretary said.

Brock said that the federal government is responding to the problem by developing special programs to teach school dropouts to read. It is joining businesses, churches and hundreds of community action groups in a national movement to wipe out illiteracy, he said.

Favors Existing Wage

But Brock refused to support an increase in the federal minimum wage, now $3.35 an hour, despite prodding by Committee Chairman Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.).

“The minimum wage is not a living wage, and it is not a decent society in which a full-time job means a lifetime in poverty,” Kennedy said. A person working full time at the minimum wage would earn $6,700 a year, $3,000 below the poverty income standard for a family of four, Kennedy noted.

“Are you for raising the minimum wage?” he asked Brock.

“My predilection is to give people the skills they need,” the labor secretary responded. “The fundamental answer is to provide skills for individuals to earn a hell of a lot more than the minimum wage,” he said. Five million of the nation’s 111 million workers earn $3.35 an hour or less.

Wants More Flexibility

Brock called on businesses to make changes to adapt to the changing nature of the work force.

Most of the new workers during the next 13 years will be women, members of minority groups and immigrants, those who “ . . . have had trouble finding rewarding jobs,” said the labor secretary. Women account for 44% of the labor force, but businesses have not been providing enough help for families in which parents are working outside the home, said Brock.

“Stresses on the family are not being accommodated well,” he said, calling for companies to offer better day-care services and flexible work schedules.

Members of the new Democratic majority on the committee challenged Brock’s emphasis on limited job training and education programs rather than expanding the work force.

“Sadly,” said Kennedy, “our economy does not afford enough opportunities for people to work. This country must reach for the day when there will be decent jobs for all who can work, and care for all who cannot,” he said.

Proposes More Training

After verbal jousting with Brock over the availability of jobs, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said: “If you don’t have educational skills, training and adequate nutrition . . . what good does it do to say, ‘You have the right to seek a job.’ ” Harkin said that all workers should be allowed to spend one day of the working week on education, skipping their regular tasks for eight hours of training and learning.

Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.) left his seat as a committee member and stepped down to the witness table where he announced his intention to introduce legislation to guarantee a job for all Americans.