The U.S. economy has changed dramatically in recent decades, from one that was heavily industrial to one that is mostly service and knowledge based. In the process, demand has grown for workers with higher levels of education and a different mix of skills. This period of rapid change is far from over. Population aging, the rise of new…

When the COVID-19 pandemic plunged the economy back into recession in early 2020, it laid bare a fragile and profoundly inequitable labor market. The economic expansion that reigned from 2009 through 2019 brought historically low unemployment and inflation but failed to reduce income inequality or arrest the decline in the number of high-quality,…

Development economists have considered physical infrastructure to be a precondition for industrialization and economic development. Infrastructure investments play a particularly important role in expanding overall employment opportunities either directly by absorbing workers or indirectly by crowding in private investments, technology adoption,…

In this second annual summary of the their work, the Investing in Community Initiative provides practical advice for community leaders and policymakers around four critical issues. First, how should local needs be defined? Chapter 1 argues that data about local economies can show whether communities are best served by creating new jobs,…

Discusses various aspects of new and emerging occupations: factors influencing these occupations (technological changes, demographic changes, legislation, life style changes, resource changes); and a process for identifying these new and emerging occupations (monitoring trends and collecting and processing data on these occupations). (CT)

This paper, the introductory chapter to a forthcoming book ("Financing Recurrent Education"), discusses the political and economic dimensions of life-long learning (recurrent education) and suggests methods by which a recurrent education system might be constructed and financed. The decline in youthful labor force entrants and forecasted changes…

This booklet, which is intended for educators, human resource specialists, and others responsible for training and education and workplace development, presents principles of good practice and steps for planning and implementing collaborative workplace development initiatives. A collaborative method of workplace development is detailed that…

In 1989, the National Center on Education and the Economy created the Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce. In its 1990 report, "America's Choice: High Skills or Low Wages!," the commission recommended that the United States build a new skills-development system. This document provides a progress report on reforms that followed the…

The report discusses activities of a first-year project to identify and solve personnel problems in the Family Services Division of the Missouri Department of Social Services. A specific objective of the project was to develop career ladders within Missouri's state government agencies which would increase job satisfaction and worker productivity.…

In 1986, three neighborhood development organizations in Cleveland, Ohio, created the Westside Industrial Retention Network (WIRE-Net) to retain manufacturing jobs on the city's West Side. In 1989, WIRE-Net launched its Hire Locally program, which was designed to provide local business with candidates judged to be effective workers and help…

To assess the feasibility of large-scale, countercyclical public job creation, a study was initiated. Job creation program activities were examined in terms of how many activities could be undertaken; what would be their costs; and what would be their characteristics (labor-intensity, skill-mix, and political acceptability) that might contribute…

A study assessed the first two years of a three-year initiative to test the potential of extending sectoral employment strategies among 10 organizations, most of which were new to the sectoral employment field. Five organizations increasing low-income workers' access to good jobs were ARCH; PhAME; Training, Inc.; WIRE-Net; and Project QUEST. Five…

A study identified United States Department of Labor efforts to expand apprenticeship to new occupations and explained impediments to establishing apprenticeship programs in fields not traditionally apprenticed (e.g., high technology and biotechnology). Labor had not systematically identified new occupations suitable for apprenticeship programs…

A study examined approximately 130 projects that were conducted in New York between November 1980 and December 1983 as a part of the state's Short-Term Program for Economic Development. During the study, researchers interviewed representatives of the businesses, industries, unions, and educational institutions involved in the training programs in…

Insights from a variety of research streams were synthesized to identify the key ingredients of a high-quality work environment in Canada's health care sector and ways of achieving high-quality workplaces in the sector. The following sets of interacting factors were considered: (1) the work environment and the human resource practices that shape…