This comparative study is intended to shed light on how vocational training is recognized and used as an instrument to mitigate the grave employment problems now facing all the countries of Europe. The three countries--Belgium, France, and Italy--are examined successively on the basis of a virtually identical approach. Each chapter begins with a description of the labor market, providing information on the main characteristics of employment and unemployment in recent years, the functional specificities governing the labor supply and demand, and the manifestations of public intervention (employment policy, training policy, and relevant public institutions), from which it can be determined if there is evidence of a preoccupation with the prevention of unemployment. This descriptive survey is followed by two sections examining collective and individual training measures that might be regarded as contributing toward unemployment prevention. The final section in each chapter examines the development prospects for training to prevent unemployment in light of the situation prevailing in the country and the degree to which the debate on this notion has developed. The report focuses only on training measures offered to lower- and medium-level personnel (skilled and unskilled manual workers and employees). (YLB)