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Statement by the President Upon Establishing the President's Committee on Youth Employment.

November 15, 1961

OUR LATEST employment figures for October 1961 show that 67,800,000 Americans are at work--the highest number of employed for any October in our history.

The total number of people in industry, business and commerce has gone up by approximately 2 million since we took office in January. This is 500,000 more than seasonal expectations.

The factory work week has gone up by a full hour since January and weekly earnings stand at more than $94.00 per week, establishing a new earning record.

Unemployment in October stands at 3,900,000. This is down substantially from the 5,700,000 people who were unemployed when we took office.

Particularly gratifying is the 900,000 cline in the long-term unemployed--4 months or more--since early spring this year.

Although there are these bright spots in the employment situation nationally, I am not satisfied with an unemployment rate which has remained at about 6.8 percent seasonally adjusted for the last 11 months. We are greatly concerned about unemployment and the Administration is attacking this problem on a broad front.

I am particularly disturbed over the serious plight of the nearly one million out-of-school and out-of-work youth.

Our youth are our greatest resource, and the social and economic implications of protracted unemployment among the one million young job seekers today and the many millions who will enter the labor force in the next few years demand immediate attention and action.

The Secretary of Labor is announcing today a comprehensive program to attack vigorously the mounting problems of jobless youth and to help put youth into jobs. 'This program is outlined in a letter to me from the Secretary of Labor.

As an important part of this program, I am today establishing a President's Committee on Youth Employment to bring the nation's attention and resources to bear on this vital national problem. This Committee will be chaired by the Secretary of Labor and will consist of other members of the Cabinet concerned with youth as well as distinguished public members. It will be charged with the task of carrying on an active drive to help our young people who seek jobs. This activity, directed to the special employment problems of youth, will complement the actions already being taken by the Administration to provide jobs for all who seek work.

I know that the Committee will receive the full support of the American people in carrying out its important assignment.

Note: In addition to the chairman, Secretary Goldberg, the release listed 22 other members appointed to the Committee.

John F. Kennedy, Statement by the President Upon Establishing the President's Committee on Youth Employment. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/235542

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