Virtual Reality Job Interview Training (VR-JIT) and Virtual Interview Training for Transition Age Youth (VIT-TAY) demonstrated initial effectiveness at increasing employment among transition-age youth with disabilities engaged in pre-employment transition services. We characterized activities and estimated the labor and non-labor costs required to…

This report summarizes the long-term findings of a rigorous random assignment evaluation of the WorkAdvance model, a sectoral training and advancement initiative. Launched in 2011, WorkAdvance goes beyond the previous generation of employment programs by introducing demand-driven skills training and a focus on jobs that have identifiable career…

An underdeveloped talent supply pipeline has resulted in a skills gap and a skilled labor shortage in the manufacturing sector across the United States. This is potentially the result of a lack of diversity in educational opportunity offered to students, an emphasis on college enrollment rates as a high school performance metric, and the…

The Office of Workforce Development (OWD) in New Orleans, Louisiana, with a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, implemented Career Pathways, an innovative program designed to increase the local talent pool and help lower-skilled, unemployed, and underemployed individuals train for work in growing fields. RAND Corporation researchers evaluated…

Workforce development in the United States today is spread across higher education institutions (primarily public two-year and for-profit colleges), labor market institutions, and workplaces, with public funding from a range of sources. But outcomes for students and workers are weaker than they could be, especially among disadvantaged students and…

To improve the employment rates and earnings of Americans workers, we need to create more-coherent and more-effective education and workforce development systems, focusing primarily (though not exclusively) on disadvantaged youth and adults, and with education and training more clearly targeted towards firms and sectors that provide good-paying…

The study evaluated from a societal standpoint the benefits and costs of the 11-state regional job-training program, Operation Manpower; compared the benefits and costs of the regional program with those of several selected state and local job-training projects; and investigated whether Operation Manpower helped reduce unemployment in Appalachia.…

Vocational-technical education can play a substantial role in work force preparation if (1) unfounded assumptions are avoided; (2) supply/demand information is improved; and (3) equity effects of different policy options are examined. More educated trainees often benefit more from training than less educated ones. (SK)

Analysis of the economics of training has become one of the most important issues of the decade for business and industry. Unfortunately, managers typically digress to a simple cost analysis and ignore the realities of cost-benefit analysis and the potential of large financial benefits to the organization. A proposed model to forecast training…

Evaluation of the Work Incentive Program (WIN) indicates that this employment and supportive services program has been very effective in serving welfare recipients with poor work histories on a cost-effective basis. Subsidized public employment is particularly effective in increasing employment and earnings. (MF)

The authors present ideas and techniques to stimulate divergent thinking on ways to cope with fulfilling the training department's mission, purpose, and objectives within a federal agency during times of fewer resources. (Author/CH)

The validity of the University of Minnesota Skills Training Cost-Benefit Forecasting Model (STCBFM) in a corporate setting was studied. Research and related literature suggested that a model for forecasting the economic benefits of training should include facility to identify and summarize costs and provide an assessment of the value of the…

The validity of the Training Benefit Forecasting Method (TBFM) in a recreational vehicle service training setting was studied. Cost-benefit issues were associated with the Onan Service School change from a field-based Recreational Vehicle Generator Set training program to a customer-delivered self-instructional training program. Actual costs and…

Describes a self-instructional system called PACT (Programmed Audio Cassette Training) adapted by the U.S. Civil Service Commission for relatively low-cost training of large numbers of employees or trainees. Included are a chart of PACT's benefits for both learners and management, with a detailed cost comparison methods study. (MF)