Apprenticeship is engrained in America's history -- three of the Founding Fathers started their careers as apprentices. Apprenticeship is a model employers can trust, helping to ensure talent is prepared for in-demand opportunities while also providing a quality postsecondary path for young Americans who are questioning the traditional four-year…

Public data and accountability are key to an inclusive economic recovery. We need data on how different workers and businesses are faring in the recovery, so we can hold policymakers accountable to equitable outcomes for those most impacted. Disparities and inequities in skills training programs can only be eliminated if there is high-quality…

Research conducted by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center), Fab Foundation and FHI 360, in partnership with more than 150 national and international experts and leaders from 28 states, found that to prepare their future workforces, governors and state leaders must develop a comprehensive agenda made up of three…

Governors are increasingly aware that the emerging economy will provide few well-paying jobs for workers who have not earned a postsecondary degree or a relevant workforce certificate. Fifty years ago, nearly 80 percent of all jobs required only a high school diploma or less and most paid a good wage. Fast-forward to data from 2013 and that number…

The extent to which funds under the Title I of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) should be expended on training services has been a topic of discussion by Congress, which is considering reauthorization of WIA. This paper describes a policy initiative by Illinois that requires Local Workforce Investment Areas (LWIAs) under Title I of WIA to expend…

One strategy for addressing the misalignment among postsecondary education, state workforce development programs and state economic development strategies is to create career pathways programs at community colleges where students are able to enroll in a defined track of coursework that leads to jobs in high-demand fields within a state or region.…

The United Kingdom needs a coherent strategy to develop the competence of its people, to enable individuals to cope with the complex world, and to help them make a personal contribution to society. Collaborators in the strategy are representatives from government, trade unions, the labor force, education, personnel and training, and local…

Reviews the history of workforce development in the United States and lists issues to frame public policy: governance structure, funding targets, quality measures, accountability, and data collection. Identifies current legislative initiatives: School-to-Work Opportunities Act, Goals 2000, and National Skills Standards Act. (SK)

Examination of the government role in labor force development in Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korean identified strategies and structures enabling the "East Asian Miracle" of economic development, including strong states with high autonomy regarding capital and labor, super-ministries linking institutions, and strong central control of…

The National Commission for Employment Policy (NCEP) is an independent federal agency authorized under the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) of 1982. NCEP analyzes employment and training issues and policies and recommends to the President and Congress areas in which policy or programmatic changes would assist the U.S. work force in becoming…

This document examines recent developments in strategic planning for employment, identifies key elements of strategic plans, examines issues to be addressed in implementing such plans, examines New Jersey's state plan in detail, and provides short sketches of the strategic plans for employment in six other states. Following an executive summary,…

This second annual report of the National Commission for Manpower Policy focuses on an employment strategy to attain the goal of full employment. In Section I the Commission's recommendations from the text are summarized into twenty steps to establish an employment strategy. Section II provides background information on the definition of…

Reviews Sweden's national development strategy that strives for full employment. Discusses the implications of job training in internal labor markets for the Rehn-Meidner model of economic stabilization. (SK)

Prairie State 2000 began as an Illinois initiative to guarantee dislocated workers access to training funds from a pool of employer and employee contributions. Although its rationale was sound and the need was great, it was beset with a number of difficulties: there was no real market for the training, its grants and loans were not worth the cost…

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,…