The retail industry is a huge and growing sector of the U.S. economy, accounting for about 10 percent of the nation's jobs in 2013 and projected to increase by 7 percent between 2012 and 2022. The sheer size of the industry and the number of employment opportunities it affords low-skilled workers led MDRC to explore the potential of the retail…

WorkAdvance is a sectoral workforce development program designed to meet the needs of workers and employers alike. For unemployed and low-wage working adults, the program provides skills training in targeted sectors that have good-quality job openings with room for advancement within established career pathways. For employers in those sectors,…

This article describes one assessment that provides a college- and career-ready individual for employers. In Illinois, workNet is the state's primary online workforce development Web site and resource for Workforce Investment Act services. With help from NOCTI, workNet offers assessments that identify the skills and interests of participants,…

It is hard to imagine a more critical time for helping the low-skilled and disenfranchised youth in our communities to become gainfully employed. Even as the nation suffers through its worst economic downturn in decades, America's business and industry leaders are predicting an unprecedented shortage of educated and skilled workers to meet the…

A 38-member Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) advisory committee was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Labor to review the country's employment and training policy, especially as focused in the JTPA, and to make recommendations for improvement. The committee found that two interdependent problems face the United States: a widening gap…

THIS FORD FOUNDATION SPONSORED RESEARCH PROJECT CONCENTRATED ON EVALUATING AND REPORTING ON PROGRAMS ESTABLISHED UNDER THE AREA REDEVELOPMENT ACT OF 1961 TO RETRAIN AND RELOCATE UNEMPLOYED WORKERS IN FOUR DEPRESSED AREAS OF WEST VIRGINIA. RESEARCHERS, SCHOLARS, AND RESOURCE PERSONS WERE INVOLVED IN CONDUCTING THE WEST VIRGINIA PHASE OF THE PROJECT…

This monograph on Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) program models for practitioners who are implementing or redesigning public service employment programs explores three major approaches to public service employment: countercyclical, employability development, and structural targeting. The content is presented in six sections. The…

The purpose of this federally funded program is to study the transition mechanisms required to transfer available technical manpower from aerospace and defense industries into other areas of employment in private industry and public service. Selected industries and public service areas were assigned to 14 study teams for researching the likelihood…

Transforming the welfare system presents governors with unique opportunities, hard choices, and creative challenges. Change will require continued commitment to welfare, educational reform, and economic development. Governors can improve the status of private citizens and private businesses. The Family Support Act of 1988 signaled major changes in…

The Learning Enrichment Foundation (LEF) in Toronto, Ontario (Canada) offers 12 targeted training programs that have successfully helped "hard-to-serve" clients return to the workforce. Compared with traditional training, targeted training has a much narrower focus and adapts quickly to industry trends to meet employers' changing…

This document contains 18 papers from the human resource development and manpower training section of an international conference on vocational education and training (VET) for lifelong learning in the information era. The following papers are included: "Use of Social and Economic Modeling to Plan Vocational Education and Training"…