Abstract

Unparalleled efforts have been made in recent years to persuade American businessmen to find jobs for the disadvantaged. The first large-scale effort toward such employment came in 1961 with the Plans for Progress program. The Civil Rights Act and the Manpower Development Training Act have intensified the effort. It is now clearly illegal to discriminate in any feature of employment if a business is covered by the federal legislation. Partnerships between government and business have been formed to train and hire the disadvantaged. Programs such as Job Corps, JOBS, CEP, CAMPS, and SER have become only too familiar to the businessman. Pressures to increase the employment of the disadvantaged are viewed with doubt and concern by many businessmen. It is well understood that the disadvantaged possess characteristics, which do not suit them for productive employment. In the states, which border Mexico, federal and state agencies are encouraging businessmen to hire more Mexican-Americans. Results show that when Mexican-Americans and Anglos with the same formal qualifications for employment are compared, there is little difference between their job performances.