The Great Recession left a crater in the labor market that has been devastating for unemployed Americans of all ages. After more than two years of unemployment at well over 8%, there is a hole of more than 11 million jobs, with average spells of unemployment lasting nearly nine months. The weak labor market has been particularly tough on young…

The author examines some of the complexities involved in trying to answer the question: jobs or productivity? human labor or machines? She discusses calculation of labor intensity, Australian statistics on the subject, trends in productivity, and institutional discouragement of labor intensity. (CT)

Robots--powerful, versatile, and easily adapted to new operations--may usher in a new industrial age. Workers throughout the labor force could be affected, as well as the nature of the workplace, skill requirements of jobs, and concomitant shifts in vocational education. (SK)

Operation Retrieval is a research project designed by the Department of Labor to review and assess the experiences of 55 experimental and demonstration projects for disadvantaged youth conducted during the period 1963-65, and to assess the impact of strategies in job placement, job creation, and job development. Job placement and development units…

The proportion of employment in higher paying occupations increased for all groups from 1973 through 1982, but the earnings distribution of these occupations shifted to include more lower paying positions. (Author/CH)

The papers in this volume deal with the causes, cures, and magnitude of unemployment. Musgrave, Killingsworth, and Okun discuss the opposing structuralist and deficient demand theories of unemployment. Garth Mangum, Curtis Allen, William Caples and Alice Rivlin offer their experience concerning the role of government and industry in curing…

The Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of l976, S-50, the Humphrey-Hawkins bill, is an attempt to focus the nation's attention and energy on the problem of attaining full employment. As a matter of law the nation would be committed to achieving an adult unemployment rate of 3% within four years. If those charged with the development and…

Outlines objectives and conclusions of a 1977 seminar for trade union officials and other specialists in labor relations on Europe and the trade unions in the next decade. Continuing economic problems and increasing economic interdependence between societies call for international labor cooperation in employment planning. (MF)

Labor supports full employment as a goal of national policy because workers' security is connected to the general health of the economy and the society. To lay the groundwork for achieving that goal, the following are discussed: (1) causes of unemployment; and (2) the mechanism for achieving full employment. (PS)

The study examined the general question of how the place of an occupation in the economic division of labor becomes shaped and defined. The shaping was seen as basically a political process, a utilization of power in various forms by interested parties acting with the conscious intention of gaining control over the economic activity of themselves…

The concept of full employment must relate government policy to the following: (1) improved quality of life; (2) private-public relations; and (3) the data needed for accountable decision making. Seven elements are suggested which will lay the groundwork for change. Historical government action on full employment is reviewed. (PS)

This report presents background information on the role of California community colleges in meeting the workforce development needs of the competitive global economy. It asserts that California is now experiencing a "new economy," which calls for employees to be more adaptable and flexible in their expectations and attitudes. The work of…

This third volume of a three-volume report of the National Commission for Manpower Policy on Public Service Employment (PSE) contains four papers prepared for the commission's use by various scholars in the field: "Evaluating the Economic Stimulus Package from an Employment and Training Perspective," by John Palmer; "Public Service Employment as…

This paper examines various aspects of public employment programs designed to reduce unemployment in Western industrialized countries. The historical context in which these programs emerged and the forms such programs might take are discussed. Public employment is considered in terms of special public service jobs, public works, and training and…

Summarizes the 1991 National Organizations Study on formal job training programs. Finds that blue-collar core occupations receive as much company training as white-collar occupations. Determines that the more extensive a company's internal labor market, the more formal training programs are used for advancement and promotion. (CFR)