This report is a response to congressional requests for the Congressional Research Service (CRS) to identify, synthesize, and explain the core components of the workforce skills gap discourse and, to the extent possible, explore and clarify evidence on the existence of skills gaps. The report acknowledges that the skills gap label is often applied…

Over the past century, the United States workforce has undergone a massive structural shift. Technological change has moved the economy toward skilled labor and away from unskilled labor--a phenomenon known as skill-biased technical change. This structural shift has increased the relative demand for educated and skilled labor, leading to…

This appendix documents the methodology used by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce to project educational demand within the US economy. The methodology produces forecasts using data from two private analytics companies. The authors use occupational forecasts provided by Lightcast that are calibrated to total employment…

The staggering highs and lows of the recent US economy and their effect on the labor force has been deeply unsettling. The US has come through the COVID-19 recession, the deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression, followed by the quickest recovery ever. One trend in the workforce has remained unaltered throughout this historic change:…

This report projects education requirements linked to forecasted job growth for all 50 states and the District of Columbia from 2021 through 2031. It complements a larger national report that projects education demand by occupation and industry for the same period. The national report finds that by 2031, 72 percent of all jobs nationally will…

By 2020, 65 percent of all jobs in the economy will require postsecondary education and training beyond high school. That's a pretty strong statement in defense of the value of higher education in this country. But it will mean little unless the nation's colleges and universities--and, specifically, community colleges--can produce more workers…

The bulletin presents projections of the 1985 manpower requirements of 240 occupations for which considerable training is most often required or desirable, and which will comprise an estimated 70 million workers or two-thirds of the civilian labor force at that time. A brief chapter discusses the use of occupational projections and training data…

The investigation explores the impact that changing economies have had and will continue to have upon Human Resources Development (HRD)--the collective body responsible for training and retraining labor--and from that perspective offers recommendations to improve the impact HRD has upon society. The challenge for HRD is to recognize the economic,…

Labor market planning techniques must take into account the dynamic nature of economies. A better approach than labor needs forecasting is use of labor market signals developed by monitoring wage and employment changes and evaluating training programs. (SK)

This guide provides planners with the essential tools and methods of labor market analysis for planning local occupational programs. An introduction discusses responsibility for development of labor market information (LMI) and guide development. Chapter 1 is a brief checklist of the steps involved in developing and using LMI in program planning.…

A MONTH-LONG STUDY TOUR PROVIDED 23 OFFICIALS OF 17 DEVELOPING COUNTRIES WITH AN OPPORTUNITY TO STUDY THE COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM OF MANPOWER PLANNING AND UTILIZATION EMPLOYED IN THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS (USSR) AND TO EXAMINE BASIC PRINCIPLES AND TECHNIQUES WHICH, WITH SUITABLE ADAPTATION, MIGHT HAVE APPLICABILITY TO SIMILAR PROBLEMS…

A study was done to determine the extent of current employment, expected job growth, necessary job skills, and the educational background preferred by employers in the solid waste field. Eight different questionnaires were developed and representatives of the solid waste management industry from 1,004 state agencies, municipalities, and private…

These proceedings contain 10 presentations and a panel discussion from a conference to acquaint the Northeast with a structure for developing and implementing solutions to improve the Northeast economically. A statement of purpose for the conference is followed by introductory remarks. The 10 presentations concern these topics: improvement in the…

American women have always been an integral part of the work force, first on the family farm and later as industrial laborers. In World War II, millions of women went to work only to be sent back home when the men returned. Today, women are in a very different situation. Between 1985 and 2000, 80% of new entrants into the work force are expected…

This paper is an attempt to forecast for 1990 the following: (1) employment structures in the member countries of the Council of Europe for all three major sectors of the economy; and (2) employment structures in the Council of Europe for the nine major sectors of the manufacturing industry (food, textiles, leather and clothing, wood and…