When the COVID-19 pandemic plunged the economy back into recession in early 2020, it laid bare a fragile and profoundly inequitable labor market. The economic expansion that reigned from 2009 through 2019 brought historically low unemployment and inflation but failed to reduce income inequality or arrest the decline in the number of high-quality,…

This policy brief describes how State VR agencies are using and can use benefits planning services, as a VR agency-funded service, to help SSDI and SSI beneficiaries address concerns and fears about the potential loss of cash benefits and healthcare benefits (i.e., Medicaid and/or Medicare) as they move into jobs paying substantial wages. The…

The Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) was authorized by Congress under Title V of the Older Americans Act to provide support for part time jobs for older, low income men and women. The program was threatened with defunding in 1981, but lobbying efforts were able to rescue it. (Author/AOS)

Describes youth unemployment in the United States and outlines major aspects of the Youth Employment and Demonstrations Project Act of 1977. Cites illustrations of demonstrations authorized by the program and discusses the role that research, evaluation, and experimentation play in youth initiatives. (Author/GC)

Examines the shift from the Manpower Development and Training Act to the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act and the difference between these programs and the Job Training Partnership Act. Also discusses the training of welfare recipients and setting priorities for the future of such programs. (CT)

The mechanism for providing more and better employment and training services to Asian Americans is already in place. What is needed now is greater understanding of how that mechanism works and greater involvement in what it is doing. (Author/AM)

Examines and evaluates the use of "active labor market policy" to attempt to make the "uneasy triangle" of full employment, price stability, and collective bargaining more tolerable while at the same time promoting the cause of greater economic equality and growth. (Author/JM)

Reviews the history of workforce development in the United States and lists issues to frame public policy: governance structure, funding targets, quality measures, accountability, and data collection. Identifies current legislative initiatives: School-to-Work Opportunities Act, Goals 2000, and National Skills Standards Act. (SK)

This National Council on Disability (NCD) annual progress report to the President and Congress covers the period December 2005 through December 2006. The report is divided into 13 chapters, each dealing with a major area of public policy. These subject-specific chapters are preceded by an introductory Major Trends section that identifies…

The two papers in this newsletter focus on youth employment and training programs in the United States and the government response to unemployment in Australia. In the first paper, "Looking at Other Countries, No. 1: United States. Youth Employment and Training Programs during the First Two Years of the Reagan Administration" by Ralph E.…

Reviews the major enactments of federal income transfer programs, Federal payments programs presently in force, Federal manpower training programs, and recent developments in Congress. Presents a pro and con discussion by several Senators and Representatives on the Adminsistration's current plan to terminate the Federal anti-poverty agency.…

Evaluates two programs in the Johnsonian "war against poverty": one "macroeconomic," attempting to create an environment of greater job opportunities and higher employment; the other "microeconomic," investing in low-income workers to raise their relative earning power. (Author/JM)

The 1983 Federal fiscal year is a year of transition from the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) to the Job Training Partnership Act of 1982 (JTPA). Unlike CETA, which included public service employment provisions, the entire thrust of JTPA is on training for unsubsidized employment. The purpose of the new law is to prepare youth and…

This report provides an overview of the poverty problem and possible solutions. The available statistics and their limitations are summarized. The complementary roles of income-maintenance and employment policies are discussed. Because employment policies are limited to those who can be made employable, the report concludes that liberal changes in…

Drawing attention to the important distinction between macro- and micro-employment policy, traces and analyzes the evolution of American employment public policy. (JM)