Regions around the country are grappling with current and anticipated skills shortages and, in some cases, labor shortages. Economic prosperity depends heavily on the quality of the workforce, and yet far too few regions have recognized their best underutilized asset: the mature workforce. Because mature workers are nearing traditional retirement…

Describes the many benefits now available to laid-off and displaced textile and apparel-related workers through the North American Free Trade Agreement's Transitional Adjustment Allowance (NAFTA-TAA), which allows them to attend college for the first time. Examines the effectiveness of the TAA program and concludes that there is room for…

Occupational training programs for employed as well as unemployed workers at every skill level and public systems of continuous training and education for adults, expanding in three Western European countries, merit American attention. (MF)

One of the most striking features of the modern world is its changing demographic profile. In almost any policy arena, the issue of demographic change (or ageing) sits alongside globalisation, climate change and the knowledge revolution as areas which are transforming societies, including the ways in which we organise and go about our work…

Describes five possible future developments for customized training: creating consortia between colleges and business training centers; establishing instructional design centers with faculty functioning as knowledge choreographers to provide up-to-date services; creating intergenerational service learning programs; implementing total quality…

This document contains an analysis of the present and future need for employee training in Sweden. The following goals are assumed: (1) employee training should be designed to achieve the goals of the individual, the community, and working life; (2) it should promote security of employment; (3) it should help achieve the goal of giving every adult…

This study of the nature, depth, and comprehensiveness of the system of postsecondary cooperative education shows the incidental presence of that system on U.S. campuses and demonstrates that cooperative education is highly unlikely to become the resource for a profound transformation of the work force that its advocates have suggested. The data…

This paper presents new evidence regarding the benefits of retraining prime-aged adults by analyzing the impacts of community college schooling on displaced workers in Washington State during the 1990s. The authors also conducted a similar analysis of a small program that provided community college courses to workers displaced from their jobs…

To relieve the increasing shortage of skilled workers in the United Kingdom, the government established boards to stimulate and regulate private industry's training efforts and also provided direct training services in Skillcentres (formerly Government Training Centres). The article describes the Skillcentres program, training objectives, program…

Six articles and case studies examine continuing education in the United Kingdom. Highlights include vocational education and training; the Professional, Industrial and Commercial Updating Programme (PICKUP); retraining in software engineering; Higher Introductory Technology and Engineering Conversion Course (HITECC); training needs in…

From 1991-93, 2,147 dislocated workers from timber-impacted counties of Washington state received Timber Retraining Benefits (TRB), with 81% using the aid to attend a state community or technical college. To determine the impact of the TRB program on the dislocated workers and their timber communities, the Washington State Board for Community and…

A strong vocational education program is essential for national economic recovery and growth. It is in the national interest to ensure that vocational education programs are of sufficient scope and quality to meet national skilled workforce requirements and alleviate the critical shortages of trained workers facing business, industry, and the…

The opportunity for employment of displaced aerospace and defense professionals within the electric power utility industry was investigated by the Seattle Skills Conversion Project Team of the National Society of Professional Engineers, as part of a study conducted for the U.S. Department of Labor. The study concluded that a possibility for…