Authorizing the Committee on Labor and Civil Service to invite the area's college and university presidents and leading corporate executives to appoint experts to a Council-convened Labor Forecast Task Force to provide Council with expert forecasts regarding the future state of the City's labor force and job market.

WHEREAS, On March 15, 2004 the Committee on Labor and Civil Service conducted a public hearing to examine and investigate the high number of unemployed people in Philadelphia and the effects this has on their families, the viability of business, commerce and the City’s declining population base and to recommend policies, programs and practices that are intended to help reverse this trend; and

WHEREAS, Retired Professor of Industrial Sociology Arthur B. Shostak, formerly of Drexel University, submitted testimony before the Committee on Labor and Civil Service that

made various suggestions regarding steps the City could take to improve its ability to make forecasts regarding the changing economy and the labor market of the future; and

WHEREAS, Professor Shostak specifically recommended that Council convene a task force made up of experts from the area’s colleges and universities to provide Council with expert forecasts regarding the future state of the City’s labor force and job market; and

WHEREAS, As the economy continues to evolve, it is critical that Council be provided with expert advice as to whether the City’s future work force will be appropriately matched with the City’s future economy and job market; now therefore

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA,That the Committee on Labor and Civil Service is authorized to invite the area’s college and university presidents and leading corporate executives to appoint experts from their schools and businesses to a Labor Forecast Task Force convened under the auspices of the Committee to provide Council with expert forecasts regarding the future state of the City’s labor force and job market.

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