As states release draft Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) state plans for public comment, advocates and other stakeholders have an important opportunity to improve them. The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) is offering a list of questions, which is included in this document, to consider when reviewing state plans. These…

The authors express reservations about additional federal funding for the National Science Foundation, including new funding for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education programs, provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. For more than 50 years, American political, business, military, and academic leaders…

The Training Incentive Payments Program (TIPP) is an experimental and demonstration project designed to explore the feasibility of using financial incentives to stimulate more effective upgrading of the skills and earnings of low income workers in the private sector. Self administration is stressed, with incentive payments to employers based on…

This report describes the early experiences of selected upgrading programs currently underway in American industry. The research focuses on the practical perspectives of these efforts, especially the constraints encountered in program design and implementation, and the various techniques and responses which may overcome these constraints. The…

"American Indians are the poorest of any nonwhite minority in the United States. Life on the reservation offers them few opportunities: if they move to the city, they face problems of adjustment that can prove insurmountable. What is being done--what more could be done--to help Indians satisfy their needs in a largely alien society? To develop the…

The addition of new residential manpower and support centers has made the Job Corps more flexible, by keeping trainees in their home areas and preparing them to work there. (BH)

This paper examines labor market conditions and public employment policies in the United States during what some are calling the Great Recession. We document the dramatic labor market changes that rapidly unfolded when the rate of gross domestic product growth turned negative, from the end of 2007 through early 2009. The paper reviews the…

The most serious problem with the current work force preparation system is that many employment and training programs operate today to serve roughly the same people. Instead, these programs should be coordinated better to lower costs in the face of lowered funding. The General Accounting Office reports that about 125 federal programs do…

AN EXTENSION OF KNOWLEDGE OF THE FACTORS RELATED TO TRAINEE DROPOUTS IN MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING ACT (MDTA) PROGRAMS WAS ATTEMPTED. THE FACTORS RELATED TO SUCCESS OF MDTA PROGRAMS WERE COMPUTED FOR ORGANIZATIONAL AND PROCEDURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TRAINEES. BOTH RETENTION AND PLACEMENT SHOW SIGNIFICANT CORRELATION WITH CHARACTERISTICS…

Vocational education programs cannot and should not serve all the population groups targeted by the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA). Rather, they should and must collaborate and cooperate with the manpower community. In order to do that five major policy issues need to be dealt with: getting agreements to collaborate, prime…

To evaluate the effect of three Houston Neighborhood Youth Corps (NYC) out-of school programs on work attitudes and job futures of poverty youth as well as to provide recommendations for program improvement, statistical data were gathered from NYC sponsors' reports and from the trainees' personal folders. The accuracy of the data is limited…

This study was conducted to assess the results of institutional manpower training in South Carolina conducted under the Manpower Development and Training Act at two skills centers, at 10 state instructional centers, and at public and private facilities throughout the state. The study found that about 72 percent of 9,800 trainees graduated, and…

Content summaries are presented for two national conferences (one in Washington, D.C., the other in San Francisco) designed to bring together prime sponsors, vocational educators, and representatives from industry to take a reading of how CETA (Comprehensive Employment and Training Act) programs were progressing and to explore ways of utilizing…

The Vocational Education Amendments of 1968 have the potential for a major breakthrough in all education, vocational and otherwise. The Vocational Education Act of 1963 established broadened objectives and enlarged appropriations but did not tie funds to performance. Lacking that tie, no effective leverage existed to entice federal, state and…

This report of the National Commission for Manpower Policy summarizes the findings and recommendations on Public Service Employment (PSE) along with considering other responses to continuing unemployment. This booklet's content is presented in two sections. Section 1 summarizes the findings and makes twenty-one recommendations pertaining to PSE,…