This is historical material, "frozen in time." The web site is no longer updated and links to external web sites and some internal pages will not work.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release September 12, 1995

       FEDERAL EMPLOYEES TO RECEIVE CAREER TRANSITION ASSISTANCE
       President Directs Departments, Agencies To Provide Support
                       As Workers Find Other Jobs

As the federal government continues to undergo downsizing and restructuring to make it more efficient and cost-effective, President Clinton today (9/12) directed heads of departments and agencies to provide assistance to federal workers in their search for other employment.

"We owe a tremendous debt to federal employees who have devoted their careers to public service," the President said. "Because many of these employees have been or are likely to be separated from federal service as we downsize the government, I have directed the heads of departments and agencies to provide career transition assistance to support them as they search for other employment. It's important that we provide these services to the people who have made possible such dramatic changes in the federal government."

President Clinton today (9/12) issued a Memorandum For the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies on Career Transition Assistance for Federal Employees. It directs the heads of departments and agencies to establish programs to provide career transition assistance to their displaced employees. The programs will be developed in partnership with labor and management including collaborating with state, local and other federal employers; establishing policies for retraining displaced employees; and establishing policies that require the selection of well-qualified displaced employees to other positions in the federal government.

The Vice President said, "We owe a very special thanks to the people who have really made reinventing government work. The real heroes of reinvention are the men and women of the federal government at every rung on the ladder, the folks who work where the rubber meets the road. They have buckled down and made the downsizing process possible, and now they need our support. We will provide it to them as they take their talents and training to other parts of the federal government or to the private sector."

The reduction in forces is part of the National Performance Review: Creating a Government That Works Better and Costs Less. The effort is headed by Vice President Gore at the request of President Clinton. In September 1993, the Vice President presented to the President a report that proposed a reduction of 252,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions in the federal government.

Last week during the two-year anniversary of NPR, the Vice President reported to the President that there are an estimated 160,000 fewer FTEs in the federal government as compared to January 1993 -- the smallest number since John F. Kennedy was President.

These and other accomplishments of the National Performance Review are chronicled in the report Common Sense Government by Vice President Gore.