This school year, and likely the next, unprecedented numbers of teachers and school librarians have and will be furloughed or demoted. These unpaid leaves of absence can be temporary and scheduled to reflect only a few days out of the academic year, or they can be in effect for the entire school year. State regulations and laws, in conjunction…

Teaching is not the safe career bet that it once was. The thinking used to be: New students will always be entering the public schools, and older teachers will always be retiring, so new teachers will always be needed. But teaching jobs aren't secure enough to stand up to the "Great Recession," as this drawn-out downturn has been called. Across…

Still-rising national jobless rates are surpassing 8.9%. This translates to millions of ill-prepared job seekers, raising complex questions about how to manage layoffs. Even if workers receive severance benefits, most struggle with how to move on and find jobs. Rather than focusing primarily on work skills and practices within individual…

In an economic downturn that seems to defy fiscal doctrine, how can one be sure that an IT job will remain safe through the coming ups and downs? Since no one can guarantee that IT position will remain intact through a turbulent economy, the author discusses how one can plan now to protect himself/herself later.

Many find it harder to enter the profession than it sounds in the recruitment literature. This article outlines how one librarian's job searching strategies after she experienced a layoff from her dream job due to budget cuts, can help others gain, or regain, a foothold in the profession. The author of this article offers many suggestions for…

Describes a pilot project set up by the UAW-GM Human Resource Center to deal with a complete plant closing in Cincinnati and to help the workers find other jobs. (JOW)

For the benefit of Texas Association of Private Industry Council (TAPIC) volunteers who oversee dislocated worker projects, a report examined the initial efforts of putting together a cost-effective and responsive system that can reemploy people. In addition to a review of the state's role in the management and administration of the Economic…

This issue discusses the problems that frequently accompany involuntary job loss. The types of problems experienced by dislocated workers are discussed under these categories: emotional, family, financial, physical health, job skill obsolescence, and lack of basic academic skills. The report also presents approaches that were taken by four…

The American economy is in a state of flux; it will probably generate more displaced workers; and it has yet to determine a policy to assist such workers in preparing for and locating new jobs. Although the extent of the problem is not entirely known, a low estimate is that some 2.2 million workers may have been affected by plant closings and mass…

Five local collaborative efforts in several Northwest states addressed the problems created by worker dislocation in unique ways. Each partnership involved educational agencies and other key actors such as employers, organized labor, and government agencies. When the Department of Labor awarded a dislocated worker retraining demonstration grant to…

The Older Worker Project was conducted to provide employment services to unemployed persons aged 45 and older who live in the western part of the Hennepin County (Minneapolis, Minnesota) area. Although the expected result was permanent employment of the participants, the intention of this demonstration project was to refine service approaches…

A project was conducted at Indiana Vocational Technical College to (1) identify unemployed or laid-off persons who required vocational guidance and/or training in order to reenter the work force; (2) ascertain realistic occupational goals, competencies, and potential job markets; and (3) develop and implement a counseling program with written…