The Great Recession left a crater in the labor market that has been devastating for unemployed Americans of all ages. After more than two years of unemployment at well over 8%, there is a hole of more than 11 million jobs, with average spells of unemployment lasting nearly nine months. The weak labor market has been particularly tough on young…

The Guaranteed Job Opportunity Act would make major changes in federal policy on the unemployed by guaranteeing a public sector job to hard core unemployed persons until they find a job in the private sector. Part two of the testimony for this bill was given to a joint session of the Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Productivity and the…

The United States has never had a consistent, unified work force development system. Instead, because of citizens' preference for decentralized government, most efforts at work force development have been sporadic and localized. From the 1960s until the early 1990s, Congress enacted between 125 and 175 narrowly-focused categorical employment…

The Guaranteed Job Opportunity Act would make major changes in federal policy on the unemployed. The bill would allow hard core unemployed persons to work on government projects until they find a job in the private sector. The participants would work four days per week for minimum wages or 10% more than welfare or 10% more than unemployment…

The feasibility of large-scale, countercyclical public job-creation was assessed. Focus was on how many job-creating activities could be undertaken as well as the job-creation potential and costs of these activities. Data was collected through field visits made to Washington-based federal government and national organizations and to twenty-four…

The moral and ethical values enunciated by America's leading religious organizations lay much of the groundwork for its major democratic institutions and establish the benchmarks by which U.S. employment conditions and policies should be measured. The public's perception of the economy's relative well-being is based on oversimplified statistical…

This second of a three-volume report of a study done to assess the feasibility of large-scale, countercyclical public job creation contains chapter 2 of the report on the methods and findings with respect to job-creating activities, their job-creation potential, and related characteristics. (Volume 1, comprised of the report's first chapter,…

A policy that addresses youth unemployment with monetary expansion for similar fiscal policies is criticized as compounding the problem, and alternative solutions are offered. Accordingly, a brief look at youth labor market characteristics, pertinent labor market theory, and the present industrial distribution of employed youth is offered. A…

A study assessed the potential development of service sectors in different cities throughout the country and compared the results of growth in these and other sectors with respect to their effects on (1) total employment; (2) the geographic dispersion of metropolitan employment; (3) central city fiscal capacity; (4) metropolitan cyclical…

This last of a three-volume report of a study done to assess the feasibility of large-scale, countercyclical public job creation covers the findings regarding the priorities among projects, indirect employment effects, skill imbalances, and administrative issues; and summarizes the overall findings, conclusions, and recommendations. (Volume 1,…

The examination of Irish manpower policy is largely devoted to a consideration of the strategy for economic development and permanent job creation--as well as to a study of various aspects of the procedures and administrative arrangements adopted to attain these objectives. Attention is drawn to the fundamental imbalances in the Irish…

This study examined work alternatives for middle-aged and older persons from two perspectives. The first perspective focused on personnel policies of the employer that relate to the development and administration of employment options. The second perspective concentrated on public policy variables that influence or could influence the availability…

Although young people across the United States have suffered disproportionately in the recent recession, the economic and social effects of high levels of youth unemployment have received only scant media and political attention and few state or federal dollars. Analyses of successful youth and young adult programs identified seven core principles…

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,…

As policymakers have begun reorienting the U.S. work force development system's priorities, a common theme has been the importance of work and training tied to real employment prospects. Workforce Innovation Networks (WINs) was created to test and advance the idea that local employer organizations can play important, productive roles in helping…