The automation of job tasks due to technological change increases the pressure on workers whose jobs consist largely of such activities. In this context, politics and science attach great importance to further training, although the benefits for affected workers have hardly been investigated. Drawing on human capital theory and the task-based…

Robert LaLonde of the University of Chicago and Daniel Sullivan of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago suggest that retraining through our nation's community colleges is a way to reduce the skills gaps of at least some of these displaced workers and increase their reemployment earnings. Although workers may still experience significant earnings…

In 2007, Michigan undertook a bold mission: to retrain tens of thousands of adults to qualify for jobs in emerging and expanding sectors of the economy. The state's proposal to jobless, dislocated, and low-income residents was simple but appealing: enroll in up to two years of postsecondary education, and Michigan would cover up to $5,000 in…

While developed nations have been able to retrain their citizens in times of war and national emergencies, they seem to lack the resources, capacity, and commitment to retrain workers in periods of economic recession and unemployment. (SK)

Educators anticipate bold new education reform initiatives from President Bill Clinton and his Education Secretary, Richard Riley. A priority project is college tuition loans, repayable through voluntary public service jobs. The President also supports increased funding for the Head Start Program and money for a national apprenticeship program for…

The author explains how one company managed a shutdown while avoiding difficult problems. He describes a five-action plan that focused on all the following areas: severance and benefits, communication, training and development, job opportunities, and retirement planning. This plan is then evaluated and recommendations to improve the plan are…

The author examines the present educational provision for unemployed adults, in the light of its relevance to their needs, and draws attention to the Open University's (Great Britain) work in this field. The author also discusses the effects of unemployment and assumptions about unemployment. (CT)

The most striking general features of the Danish education system are these: a high degree of centralization, learner-centeredness, open access, precisely defined conditions of service for teachers, and virtually non-existent training for educational managers. Education is compulsory for children between the ages of 7 and 16 years. Optional…

This collection of 16 case studies is intended to illustrate how the public and private sectors have managed to collaborate in helping workers adapt to changing employment circumstances. The case studies are grouped into three categories. The first six case studies are examples of programs that have been developed to assist in training for new…

A study was conducted to determine if dislocated workers in Minnesota felt they had sufficient reading and mathematics skills to obtain new employment or enter retraining programs. A representative group of 168 dislocated workers who had been employed in manufacturing, taconite mining, lumber, and farming were interviewed from June through…

Northampton County Area Community College implemented a program of tuition waiver for unemployed adult residents of its sponsor area on a space-available basis in credit courses only. In addition to providing relief and a positive interventionary program to aid the unemployed, the project tested certain hypotheses concerning the nature of training…

"Look into the Future" is a program created by a Job Training Partnership Act project and 9to5, Working Women Education Fund, to address the training and retraining needs of office workers in light of the advances in computer and communications systems. This guide describes the model project and suggests steps other organizations can…

Dislocated workers are distinguished from chronically unemployed individuals in that the former have a stable work history and are generally unaware of the community's social services programs and how to use them. Dislocated workers frequently lack job search skills and do not see the transferability of their work skills. Often, they have heavy…

Technological advances necessitate the continuous retraining of the work force. Three technologies are having greatest impact on the labor force: (1) the scope and depth of computer skills required by most jobs continue to expand; (2) robotics in manufacturing means that certain new jobs are more technical and require postsecondary education; and…

The role of generic skills in the lives, work, and employment of 127 dislocated workers in a broad cross-section of job categories in five areas of Australia were examined through individual interviews, focus groups, and a survey questionnaire. Selected findings are as follows: (1) generic skills are developed in all areas of human endeavor,…