The Department of Labor estimated that 300,000 people would lose their jobs because of the termination of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act's (CETA's) public service employment programs. The General Accounting Office (GAO) reviewed the Department of Labor's efforts to find permanent unsubsidized jobs or new training opportunities for these individuals with eight prime sponsors through interviews with Department of Labor officials, interviews with the prime sponsors, and a review of 1,040 randomly selected case files of persons terminated from the program. For seven of these sponsors (the other was not considered by GAO to be representative) GAO found that (1) 45 percent of the former public service employment participants were employed, 50 percent were unemployed, and 5 percent were in school or training; (2) almost 24 percent of the employed individuals held temporary jobs and another 21 percent had part time jobs; (3) about 54 percent of the employed were working in the private sector; (4) 55 percent of the unemployed individuals were receiving one or more forms of government assistance--this help averaged $353 per month less than their former public service employment salary; (5) most of the unemployed individuals were looking for work; and (6) participants' perceptions of help in job search and job placement activities received from local agencies varied widely. (KC)