Technology shifts gears. The workers who control it need to learn how to shift gears, too. Workers brought up with universal schooling would respect authority, learn enough "geometry and mechanics" to use in their trades, keep invention alive, and finally see through "the interested complaints of faction and sedition." In other…

Three papers consider various aspects of the labor market in the telecommunications field in the United States. The first, "Employment and Worker Dislocation in Telecommunications Equipment" (Julie Gorte, Office of Technology Assessment), notes that the increasing importance of international trade in the American economy has meant both a…

In January 1986, the Employment and Training Administration sponsored a special study designed to answer some of the questions about displaced workers. The principal findings of the survey included the following: a total of 10.8 million workers 20 years of age and over lost jobs because of plant closings or employment cut-backs over the January…

Contends that unemployment is an example of market failure. Argues that explaining unemployment from this supply-demand approach is preferable to the traditional explanation that high "real wages" are the cause. Reveals that many prominent economists entered the field because of their concern for the social problems caused by…

This report is the product of a project called Investing in People, in which the National Conference of Legislatures and Jobs for the Future helped five states as they tried to develop and implement work force preparation and training strategies to meet the challenge of a competitive global economy. The report is organized in six sections. The…

A study examined the experiences of some 1.4 million American defense industry workers, displaced in the wake of the Cold War, as a way of reviewing and evaluating national policies toward worker adjustment and re-employment as they have evolved in the 1990s. The study found that the federal government, through the Department of Labor,…

These 10 papers were commissioned for a conference to discuss such questions as: If the military has to restructure its work force, how easily will it manage this transition? How well will the affected employees do in the labor market? and How will the defense industry and educational institutions respond to the need for transition? After an…

An examination of the changes that are likely to occur in work and productivity in the future reveals that, at least before the year 2000, Americans are not likely to see many new jobs created and will probably not be required to alter their skills greatly for existing jobs. It will be difficult to duplicate the sustained productivity attained…

The most significant factors affecting the labor market during the 1980s were the United States' loss of competitiveness in the world marketplace, continued shifts in production from goods to services, changes in the skill requirements of many jobs, and demographic shifts in the population. During the next decade, incompatibility between the type…