Throughout Baltimore, men and women, from young adults to older workers, are seeking meaningful employment opportunities that offer family-sustaining wages and support personal well-being. Labor markets are tight, meaning that skilled workers are in great demand, and a unique prospect exists to open doors to quality jobs, particularly for those…

Prior research has classified strategies to facilitate adult learners' transitions to postsecondary opportunities into five broad categories: advising, General Educational Development-plus (GED-plus), English as a second language, career pathways, and college preparatory (Zafft, Kallenbach, & Spohn, 2006). This two-part study relied on…

America is daily bombarded with reminders about how rough current economic times are, particularly in workforce development. Headlines scream, "Highest unemployment rate in 26 years" and "Jobs not likely to recover to pre-recession levels until 2012." In such an environment, it is easy to lose sight of serious underlying conditions affecting the…

Shifting Gears was launched in 2007 by the Joyce Foundation, a Chicago-based organization focused on improving the quality of life of citizens residing in the Great Lakes region of the United States. The primary goal of Shifting Gears is to increase the number of low-skilled, low-income Midwestern adults who obtain college-level occupational…

This bibliography summarizes recent research on the structure and effectiveness of workforce development programs. While the term "workforce development" can mean many things, this document focuses on programs to help low-skill, low-wage and displaced workers increase their employment and earnings, as well as labor market trends that…

Due to the large number of individuals retiring over the next ten years a critical shortage of people available to work within the manufacturing industry is looming (Dychtwald, Erickson, & Morison, 2006). This shortage is exacerbated by the lack of a properly educated workforce that meets the demands of the 21st century manufacturer (Judy…

The current pressure to look seriously at the connection between the economy and the educational and occupational skills of adults is being driven by changes in both economic conditions and the makeup of the U.S. labor force. Manufacturing has declined, taking with it low-skill, high-wage jobs, and the work force has more immigrants, women, and…

THE COUNCIL OF THE SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS MADE A ONE-YEAR STUDY OF THE MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING ACT IN APPALACHIA AND HELPED ESTABLISH THE YOUTH, EDUCATION, JOB DEVELOPMENT, WORK EXPERIENCE, VISTA, AND ON THE JOB TRAINING PROGRAMS WHICH ARE REVIEWED AND EVALUATED IN THIS REPORT. IT WAS CONCLUDED THAT--(1) MEN WANT JOBS, (2) WHILE UNFILLED…

The effectiveness of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 was critiqued. WIA was praised for providing an avenue for communication among state and local agencies during development of workforce development plans, potentially allowing individuals to choose from a wider array of services and service providers, spreading the concept of one-stop…

This report presents the testimony and submissions presented at the first of a series of Congressional hearings on workforce development and reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act. Statements were given by the following individuals: (1) Buck McKeon, U.S. (United States) Congressman from California; (2) John Tierney, U.S. Congressman from…

This document contains 21 papers and an introduction on work force preparation in a global context. The following papers are included: "Introduction" (Johanna Lasonen); "Access of Girls and Women to Vocational Education: Implications for the Workplace in Swaziland" (Comfort B. S. Mndebele); "Intersectoral Approaches to…