New data show small local firms create less than a third of new jobs in rural areas and are unreliable employment sources because many fail within their first 5 years of business. Local planners should consider mix of corporate affiliates offering potential of many jobs and small independent firms. (NEC)

Summarizes the findings and methodology of some of the recent innovative labor market studies in the private sector. Emphasis is placed on the micro-data study of the job creation process at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Similar studies at the University of California at Berkeley and at the Brookings Institution are also summarized. (CT)

Analysis of occupational structures in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States shows divergent paths toward postindustrial society, with different forms of knowledge-based production (service-economy and info-industrial) that reflect cultural and institutional diversity. (SK)

For more than a decade, the United States has produced more new jobs than most other industrialized nations--nearly 20 million new jobs during 1973-1984. However, none of the aggregate numbers reveals anything about the types of jobs created or how much they pay. The following facts are pertinent: (1) compared to the period 1973-1979, the net new…

Changes in the job and labor markets are a critical concern to vocational education and call for curriculum development to deal with the emerging and new occupations created by advancing technology. The author presents a model to represent the developmental patterns for emerging occupations. (MF)

The increased expansion of laser technology will create many new jobs and will require workers with many different skills. At the same time, some kinds of occupations will be adversely affected, due to increasing use of laser technology in a broad range of industries. (CT)

Examines four scenarios for the future of employment and unemployment. Presents their main features and identifies some of the key underlying issues they raise. Issues involve the value of work versus leisure, paid versus unpaid work, what forms of work we will pay for, and how this work will be distributed. (CT)

Semiskilled and "unskilled" workers in semiconductors, computer manufacturing, and consumer electronics industries are more likely than other workers to lose jobs because of technology, imports, and offshore production. However, advances in technology do tend to create jobs for skilled workers. (CT)

From 1988 to 1996, employment in high-technology industries shifted toward services. Growth in these industries accounted for all of the net increase in research and development employment in the United States. (SK)

The author presents a methodology to identify new and emerging occupations for the purpose of appropriate vocational education curriculum development, involving collection of occupational data, development of criteria, and evaluation of occupational data for curriculum development. (MF)

A longitudinal study over a five-month period of changes in several jobs was conducted among 244 employees of a federal agency. Data were obtained on perceptions of job content and a number of job attitudes, and indicated a temporary positive influence of the changes in one set of jobs. (Author)

Changes in the institutional structures that block women's opportunities for occupational advancement will be necessary in the next decade. The structural problems of power, tokenism, and opportunity, identified in Rosabeth Moss Kanter's sociological case study of a corporation, are discussed. (Author/MLF)

Employment growth continued at a slower pace in 1989; in manufacturing, employment actually declined. The slower pace was experienced by all major demographic groups. Little change in unemployment occurred for all major worker groups. (SK)