Moving Participants From Public Service Employment Programs into Unsubsidized Jobs Needs More Attention

The public service employment (PSE) programs, funded by the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) of 1973, are the largest federally financed employment and training programs. They are administered at the federal level by the Department of Labor and at the local level by state or local governments, which are the prime sponsors. Each prime sponsor is assigned a Labor staff member, called the federal representative, whose responsibilities include monitoring the sponsor's CETA programs and providing technical assistance to the sponsor. About $12 billion was spent for public service employment programs during fiscal years 1975 through 1978. A review was made of five prime sponsors' programs to move PSE participants into unsubsidized jobs. These sponsors, located in Connecticut, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and Washington, spent about $116 million during fiscal year 1978.