German primary vocational training is characterized by the Dual System, a system of alternating education with two major partners--business and special vocational education. It coordinates and integrates both theoretical and practical training. Students who complete compulsory education at age 15 may choose this vocational alternating training…

In spite of funding constraints and legislatively mandated growth caps, the California community colleges, as the major provider of occupational education in the state, must play a significant role in serving and retraining workers displaced by plant shutdowns and mass layoffs. In response to these problems, a study was conducted to identify the…

Although several fundamental forces are changing the American economy and the American work force, three conditions are pivotal--demographic change, technological change coupled with shifting conditions of competition, and the continuing inadequacies of both public- and private-sector employment and training policies. The employment and training…

The need for a national policy for the development and use of human resources is evident. One part of the human resource development issue centers around the needs of adult workers who are unemployed or threatended with unemployment because of structural changes in the labor market. The issue of retraining adult workers was examined in detail in…

The perception that the United States is falling behind in the skills race has prompted experts to look abroad for policy ideas. Of particular interest has been the German "dual system," which alternates 2 to 3 years of highly structured work-based training with classroom teaching for young people, beginning at age 16. Buoyed by the success of the…

This report examines how the aging of the population of the United States will affect the workplace, and how employers, government, and the older employees themselves will adapt to this societal aging. The report covers issues surrounding the aging of the work force and uses case studies to illustrate how some companies and organizations are…

The Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA), a bill designed to replace the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA), enlarges the role of state governments and private industry in federal job training programs, imposes sanctions based on performance standards, limits stipends and supportive services, creates a new program of retraining for…

This report is the product of an effort by the Office of Technology Policy to assess current and future needs for information technology (IT) workers through a comprehensive information-gathering project that included the following three activities: (1) nationwide regional meetings that included discussions with industry executives,…