3 The Opportunity Ahead: A Call to Action for American Skills and Jobs 1. Engaging Employers in Best Practices for Hiring and Recruiting the Long-Term Unemployed. The Administration engaged with America’s leading businesses to develop best practices for hiring and recruiting the long-term unemployed to ensure that these candidates receive a fair shot during the hiring process. Over 80 of the nation’s largest businesses have signed on, including 20 members of the Fortune 50 and over 45 members of the Fortune 200, as well as over 200 small- and medium-sized businesses. 2. Encouraging Regional Collaboration to Get the Long-Term Unemployed Back to Work. The Administration launched a $150 Million Ready to Work Partnership grant to support and scale innovative partnerships among employers and non-profits in states and cities across the country that are helping to prepare and place the long-term unemployed into good jobs. 3. Ensuring Federal Policies Support Hiring of the Long-Term Unemployed. The President used his executive authority to sign a Presidential Memorandum to make sure that individuals who are unemployed or have faced financial difficulties through no fault of their own receive fair treatment and consideration for employment by federal agencies. Since January, long-term unemployment has declined by 500,000 individuals. This drop has accounted for over 70 percent of the overall drop in unemployment. The long-term unemployment rate also fell faster over the last six months than the previous six months. Over the first half of 2014, the long-term unemployment rate came down 0.5 p.p., including a 0.2 p.p. decline in June.31 Though we have seen progress, the long-term unemployment rate remains well above its 2001 32 through 2007 average of 1.0 percent. The strategies the President prioritized at the White House summit are still critical to continue and accelerate the rate of long-term unemployed who find jobs. Today, the White House is able to announce progress on the President’s initiatives. Spreading Best Practices on Hiring the Long-Term Unemployed and Expanding Regional Partnerships Businesses that signed onto the White House Best Practices are taking the request to change their recruiting and hiring practices seriously. The White House conducted a survey of businesses signing onto the White House Best Practices on Recruiting and Hiring the Long-Term Unemployed in June. Based on this survey, Best Practices are viewed as effective by an overwhelming majority of businesses and have led to hiring of the long-term unemployed. The survey, which was conducted anonymously, found that the most effective best practice in generating hires is engaging with local and regional entities. Some survey respondents volunteered to have their stories shared and their experiences with the Best Practices are in gray box below. Long-Term Unemployment Playbooks. As part of their commitment to enhance employment opportunities among American workers and address the challenges the long-term unemployed typically face in finding employment, Deloitte and the Rockefeller Foundation are working together to create playbooks that can be used by employers and long-term unemployed job seekers to return a 31 Internal calculations based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data. 32 Bureau of Labor Statistics. 59