Governments, businesses, and educational institutions need to collaborate and make significant investments in order to address the growing digital skills crisis. In Europe, hundreds of digital skills initiatives have been launched with different forms of government and private industry support in the last five years alone. Consequently, digital…

Even before the COVID-19 crisis, the United States was overdue for a transformation of its postsecondary education and workforce development systems to meet the vast skill and employment needs of today's workers and employers. The pandemic has exponentially increased this need for change, with millions of Americans permanently out of work and in…

Britain is in the longest recession since the Second World War. Mass unemployment is back. The road to recovery could be long and bumpy. On the fiscal front, the deficit could be higher than the 175 billion British Pounds forecast for 2009-10. Bringing the deficit under control will require higher taxes and lower public spending. In an effort to…

In 2007, Michigan undertook a bold mission: to retrain tens of thousands of adults to qualify for jobs in emerging and expanding sectors of the economy. The state's proposal to jobless, dislocated, and low-income residents was simple but appealing: enroll in up to two years of postsecondary education, and Michigan would cover up to $5,000 in…

Regions around the country are grappling with current and anticipated skills shortages and, in some cases, labor shortages. Economic prosperity depends heavily on the quality of the workforce, and yet far too few regions have recognized their best underutilized asset: the mature workforce. Because mature workers are nearing traditional retirement…

The real retraining of the American work force will not come about through massive, federally operated job training programs. It will come about only when employers are able to look forward to a promising economic future that requires highly trained and motivated employees and that offers real jobs. (Author/SSH)

Redesigning jobs, training, and retraining may be the most important economic challenge facing this country for the next decade. Training must support jobs that are really changing and retraining has to prepare people for jobs that really exist. (Author/JOW)

Until the United States adopts an investment approach to its labor force and provides adequate funds for continuous upgrading of human resources, the unemployment rate will remain above acceptable levels. (SK)

Explains how the existing workforce in Kazakhstan's oil industry is being upgraded in skills, knowledge, and competencies to bring them up to the standards of the West. Discusses the design phase, including career development plans, training plans, and business plans; job ladders and specifications; assessing skill levels; and an…

This issue of a biannual journal on vocational training focuses on national and European Community initiatives for the training of trainers. The 14 articles are as follows: "Training Personnel--The Mainstay of Success" (Helmut Brumhard); "Training of Trainers--An Essential Subject in the Social Dialogue" (Joao Proenca);…

Redesigning jobs can be cost-effective as well as personnel-effective as organizations change to meet society's changes. The process of redesigning jobs, which allows an organization to use existing personnel and avoid the high cost of recruitment, hiring, and duplicative training, consists of asking the right questions and finding the answers to…

A study was undertaken to describe how changes in the network of transactions that occur between manufacturers and suppliers have affected the scope and nature of training and related human resource practices within supplier firms. Data came from the published literature, expert opinion, and a phone survey of 15 individuals ranging from…

The extent of worker training in the United States is described, with information about the literacy level of job seekers. Major policy options available for increasing the investment in skills and literacy are discussed. Most data come from surveys by the U.S. Department of Labor. Data indicate that 2 of 5 workers received skill-improvement…

The United States Congress's Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) issued a report describing American corporations as "remarkably underdeveloped" when compared with the nation's leading international competitors. The OTA report indicated that training and retraining must be made available to the lower tier of poorly paid, unskilled and…

In Italy, all responsibility for vocational training has been delegated to the regions. At the regional level, three types of training are available: training for work, on-the-job training, and training under special state legislation. No obligation is placed on employers to train the work force. Most worker training is informal and conducted…