When the COVID-19 pandemic plunged the economy back into recession in early 2020, it laid bare a fragile and profoundly inequitable labor market. The economic expansion that reigned from 2009 through 2019 brought historically low unemployment and inflation but failed to reduce income inequality or arrest the decline in the number of high-quality,…

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) placed a lifetime capitation of five years on welfare benefits. This Bill consolidated welfare and employment programs into the block grant known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The benefit package allows operation of programs in accordance with…

Between July 1981 and November 1982, the United States experienced the worst economic recession of the post-World War II period. In response, Congress in March 1983 enacted the Emergency Jobs Appropriations Act, whose objectives were: (1) to provide productive employment for jobless Americans; (2) to hasten or initiate federal projects and…

Examines two government voluntary job creation programs: the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s and the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act in the 1970s, that have created conflicts with the logic of capitalist production for profit. Suggests principles and policies for a progressive government work program. (JOW)

This report reviews the knowledge gained in 4 years of operation of labor mobility demonstration projects and provides guidelines on the design and operation of a permanent worker relocation program. Data were gathered both from written material covering the experience of each project and from field trips to some of the projects when additional…

Public service employment is a cost-effective fiscal remedy in terms of jobs created within the first 12 months. Its effectiveness is enhanced if participants come from welfare or unemployment compensation programs. Other positive attributes are low inflationary impact and ability to be targeted to areas or groups. (SK)

An Enterprise Zone Working Group brought together enterprise zone directors, Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) program administrators, and private industry council representatives from the state and local levels. It discussed ways in which employment and training programs could better coordinate with development activities in enterprise zones.…

Describes President Carter's proposed system to give welfare and other low-income families a chance to earn their way out of poverty. Focus is on the Jobs for Families component which combines the Aid to Families with Dependent Children; Supplemental Security Income for the aged, blind, and disabled; and Food Stamps in a single cash assistance…

This document records the oral and written testimony of persons participating in a U.S. House of Representatives hearing on employment and training needs during the current recession. Testimony was given by leaders of youth education and jobs programs, congressional representatives, a college president, and several unemployed workers. Witnesses…

The amendments to the Job Training Partnership Act refine the existing statute without disrupting basic program operations. The major provisions make adjustments in the following areas: (1) definition of economically disadvantaged; (2) designation of service delivery area; (3) the Literacy and Dropout Prevention Program; (4) protection for the…

In September 1985, the Canadian government introduced the Canadian Jobs Strategy. Two features distinguish the jobs strategy program from Canada's old job development programs and programs for purchasing job training from colleges. These features are: (1) focusing of federal support for labor market adjustment on those individuals who are most in…

This document contains (1) the text of the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1976 (H.R. 50), a bill to establish a national policy and nationwide machinery for guaranteeing to all adult Americans able and willing to work the availability of equal opportunities for useful and rewarding employment, (2) the statements made in committee…

Deals with an Office of Economic Opportunity-funded Neighborhood Employment Center with an affiliated job training center in Massachusetts. (DM)

The Department of Labor's Youth Incentive Entitlement Pilot Projects (YIEPP) was the nation's largest demonstration to test a new approach to solving the employment problems of disadvantaged youths. Sixteen- to 19-year-olds from low income or welfare households who had not yet graduated from high school were offered minimum-wage jobs, part-time…

With a major focus on manpower legislation's influence on vocational training programs in Wisconsin, this article traces the history and decentralization of manpower legislation from the 1961 Area Redevelopment Act (ARA) to the present federal administration's proposals and indicates that future manpower programs should focus on training youth and…