Research conducted by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center), Fab Foundation and FHI 360, in partnership with more than 150 national and international experts and leaders from 28 states, found that to prepare their future workforces, governors and state leaders must develop a comprehensive agenda made up of three…

The Obama Administration has helped articulate the important role community colleges play in educating the nation's workforce and boosting the economy. With a large share of projected job openings requiring college education of less than a bachelor's degree and offering family-supporting wages, the nation's community colleges can make a huge…

The author analyzes human resource planning, in which he gives the various aspects of career development a report card that, the author states, shows the field is far from achieving its self-stated goals. He states that succession planning and systems approaches would help this situation. (CT)

In response to a request from the Manpower Administration of the U. S. Department of Labor, the book, authored by manpower researchers, develops a conceptual framework within which a labor market information system can be understood and implemented. Part 1 deals with a rationale and conceptual framework for governmental action designed to improve…

The feasibility of integrated health human resources planning (IHHRP) was examined. The analysis focused on the following topics: ways of integrating labor market indicators into service planning; whether planning is sufficiently responsive and flexible to retain relevance and validity in rapidly changing health systems; different models and…

A systems approach to changing labor market performance requires a substantial and enduring commitment to the task of change. A systems reform framework has been developed that is based on a dual-customer approach, with a focus on improving labor market outcomes for both low-income people and their employers. The objective is to change the labor…

This document explains the concept of sectoral employment strategies and profiles 13 successful work force development programs based on such strategies. The first half of the document examines the increasing need for sectoral employment strategies and their key characteristics, role in achieving systemic change in work organizations, and…

This collection of essays, which is arranged in four sections, concerns flexibility in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) systems of Europe. The first section, "Introduction," includes the following chapter: "Shaping Conditions for a Flexible VET" (Nieuwenhuis et al.). The second section, "Institutional and…

Recent efforts to build economic and work force development systems in seven leading cities were reviewed to inform similar efforts undertaken in Baltimore, Maryland. Research examining efforts to establish work force development systems in the following cities were analyzed: Austin, Texas; Berkeley, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Cleveland,…

A 2-day conference on vocational training as an instrument to combat unemployment was held to discuss employment policy, vocational training, and decentralization in the context of the European Union's (EU's) accession strategy, current employment initiatives, and experiences of the EU's member states and regions. The conference included papers on…

The extent to which providers of post-16 vocational education and training (VET) in the United Kingdom are able to secure timely and relevant learning programs to meet sudden and unpredicted changes in local or national skills profiles was examined in a study that included interviews of nine private training providers and 11 further education (FE)…

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…

Recent labor market and economic trends have spotlighted the need for work force development systems and policies to simultaneously serve employers seeking qualified workers and individuals who want to find work and advance toward self-sufficiency. This need has in turn led to the development of labor market intermediaries that can perform a wide…

The current situation regarding training Massachusetts' workers for the new economy was reviewed. Special attention was paid to the following topics: Massachusetts and the skill-centered economy; opportunities for workforce system reform; skills demanded in the new economy; ways other states are building workers' skills; and the fragile setting…

This document contains nine papers devoted to the labor market problems faced by out-of-school and other disadvantaged young people in the United States and policy options and strategies for addressing those problems. The papers update the data on out-of-school young adults, review the lessons learned from past youth programs and policies,…