Objective: This paper reports on a programme which sought to engage individuals and groups who are underrepresented in the UK labour market. The programme aimed to improve access to employment opportunities and provide practical support in job applications. The focus was on encouraging people to seek employment in the health and social care…

The Commonwealth of Virginia, as with other states, operates a panoply of programs whose objectives, either directly or indirectly, are to develop the state's workforce. Some programs enhance the skills of Virginians through training or formal education; whereas other programs, such as the Employment Service, attempt to facilitate the employment…

Noncustodial fathers have an essential role to play--both financially and emotionally--in the lives of their children. However, of the 11 million noncustodial fathers in the US, two thirds do not pay any formal child support. Many of these fathers are poor themselves and face multiple barriers, including low education levels, limited work…

This training monograph was produced by the Manpower Development Higher Education System and provides manpower planners with the types of theoretical and practical information necessary to achieve planning effectiveness. The training is designed for delivery on three consecutive days. The material is most appropriate for the new planner or for the…

This article develops a production frontier model for the Employment Service and assesses the relative efficiency of the 51 State Employment Security Agencies in attaining program outcomes close to that frontier. This approach stands in contrast to such established practices as comparing programs to their own previous performance. (Author/CT)

Although much is known about how to help welfare recipients find jobs, little is known about how to help them and other low-wage workers keep jobs or advance in the labor market. This report presents information on the effectiveness of a program in South Carolina that aimed to help former welfare recipients obtain jobs, work more steadily, and…

Conference addresses and summaries of group discussion are included in these proceedings of a symposium held to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Employment Service and to explore its future role. The first item is a research report, "The Potential Impact of the Employment Service on the Economy," by Charles Holt, followed by…

The purpose of this paper is to review the implications of a series of programs now being conducted throughout the United States which are consciously trying to equip the unemployed with the tools necessary to find work. These relatively new programs are described as demonstrating a high rate of success in helping individuals obtain work within a…

The Employment Service (ES) was established by the Wagner-Peyser Act of 1933. The act established a nationwide network of state-operated, federally financed employment service offices to match workers to jobs. The following services are performed by the ES: employment counseling, special assistance to target populations, the "work test"…

The book represents an effort to assess the performance, structure, and direction of the Job Bank Program of the Public Employment Service, a program meant to improve the functioning of the labor market information system in the United States. The research had three goals: to assess the relative goal achievement of job banks; to determine its…

Reasons for the failure of the Manpower Development and Training Act (MDTA) of 1962 to meet its major objective of alleviating skills shortages are recorded and analyzed. The lack of skills shortages was admitted to be the main reason for the shortcomings in performance, although the term "skills shortage" had yet to be defined and…

A study assessed the formulas used to distribute funds to the states under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) 1998. It identified mismatches that might exist between the formulas and WIA's program goals and populations served and identified where the formulas are most vulnerable to wide fluctuations in funding levels from year to year. Issues…

Objectives of the second-year project described in this report were (1) to conduct a series of one-day workshops on job searching skills for at least 400 high school students and recent graduates; (2) to test interested students and match individual abilities and interests with available employment; (3) to contact at least 600 potential employers;…

APPROXIMATELY 200 COUNSELORS AND PRINCIPALS FROM 85 HIGH SCHOOLS ENROLLING 76,610 PUPILS THROUGHOUT SEVEN SOUTHERN STATES ATTENDED A 2-DAY CONFERENCE TO EXAMINE AND EVALUATE GUIDANCE PROGRAMS AND TO SUGGEST IMPROVEMENTS. A FOLLOWUP STUDY OF THE CONFERENCE, INDICATED THAT 88 PERCENT OF THE RESPONDENTS HAD IMPROVED THEIR VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE PROGRAMS…

This volume consists of four articles dealing with strategies for combatting unemployment in the 1980s. In the first article, entitled "The Problem of Unemployment in the United States," Martin Neil Baily examines the nature of unemployment, the inflation trade-off and the natural rate of unemployment, indicators of structural change,…