Hanjian, Jini M., August, 1979 - EVALUATION OF THE PASCO COUNTY MANPOWER DEPARTMENT Abstract: This thesis examines the evaluation of the Pasco County Manpower Department which took place from September 1975 to March 1976. Four programs were studied and recommendations for their improvement were submitted to the Pasco County Manpower Planning Council. The programs were the Adult Education and Training Program, the Florida State Employment Service, the Public Service Employment Program and the Youth Employment Program. A review of the literature of past federal manpower programs and policies will be given. In addition, a discussion of how government leaders use manpower programs as an integral part of the nations' economic package to combat poverty and unemployment will help introduce the programs and local Manpower Department under discussion. This includes a description of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act of 1973 and the terms decentralization and decategorization. The remainder of the thesis deals with Pasco County's employment problems, the Manpower Department and its programs. Pasco is a small county on the West Coast of Florida which, in 1975, had an unemployment rate consistently over 16%. The cause for the high rate is shown to be partly a result of a declining construction industry, a scarcity of large and stable industries, and a large migration of seasonal workers for the citrus groves and packing plants. Pasco also had a large percentage of poor minorities and poor elderly residents which accentuated the unemployment problems. The Pasco County Manpower Department was set up to respond to these employment problems, and the four programs examined in the evaluation were the existing solutions operating at the time. The Department's organization and authority are explained and the programs' interagency cooperation is described. Next, the evaluative methods and tools used during the research are examined and the evaluation's findings are presented. Finally, the evaluator's recommendations and the actions and responses of the Planning Council and Manpower Director are described. Conclusions are drawn about the broader implications of the evaluation and thesis for three fields of interest: small-scale evaluations, all manpower programs, and anthropology.