The automation of job tasks due to technological change increases the pressure on workers whose jobs consist largely of such activities. In this context, politics and science attach great importance to further training, although the benefits for affected workers have hardly been investigated. Drawing on human capital theory and the task-based…

Bobby Curran grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Baltimore, finished high school, and followed his grandfather's steel-toed bootprints straight to Sparrows Point, a 3,000-acre sprawl of industry on the Chesapeake Bay. College was not part of the plan. A gritty but well-paying job at the RG Steel plant was Mr. Curran's ticket to a secure…

Despite the desire of many older adults to remain in the workforce, those without jobs face unprecedented durations of unemployment. Many of the unemployed lack current skills for jobs in demand and need to either upgrade their skills or be trained for a new occupation to become reemployed. An aging workforce, combined with the negative effects of…

This paper draws on a study of a community-based adult education initiative, "Cumbria Credits," which took place during the period of serious economic decline which hit sections of the farming and the wider community in Cumbria during 2001. It draws on the principles underpinning Edward Soja's notion of "spatial justice" to explore transformations…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to illuminate the life experiences of displaced workers enrolled in community colleges for retraining and their views on obtaining employment after completion of a degree. The study is important because it provides qualitative data that will inform community college academic leadership, faculty,…

Beginning in the 1970s, low-wage manufacturing areas in advanced industrialized countries experienced deindustrialization and worker dislocation as transnational corporations left for sites of lower-cost labor. In response, communities sought to rebuild their economies and pursue new employment opportunities in the restructured labor markets of…

During structural adjustment, training/retraining for unemployed persons is often poorly conceived. One reason is the lack of reliable ways to predict future skill requirements. Retraining should be kept fairly general to enable a wide range of potential jobs. (SK)

A study examined and evaluated both public and private efforts to assist dislocated farmers, with particular emphasis on employment and training programs. The study found that about 46,000 farmers are currently leaving farming each year, and the rate probably will continue for the next several years. Since the majority of the farmers who leave…

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) was passed in 1987 to provide advance notice to workers whose jobs are to be eliminated because of plant closings and relocations. A study examined the extent to which advance notice eases the adjustment problems associated with permanent loss of jobs. Data from the Displaced Worker…

Thousands of workers have been dislocated from jobs in the textile and apparel industries as a result of recessions and structural changes in the economy. Because of the large concentrations of female workers in these industries, women have been particularly vulnerable to dislocation. This study examined job dislocation and factors that affect…

This monograph takes the perspective that increased awareness of how active labor market programs operate in other nations can substantially improve the way in which the United States deals with worker displacement. Chapter 1 considers the costs of worker displacement and how government programs designed to reduce these costs are evaluated.…

Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) is a benefit paid to workers who lose their jobs in industries that face increasing competition from imported goods. TAA is supposed to offset political pressures for protectionist legislation, and it has been justified on grounds of equity and efficiency as well. Research on TAA shows that it has failed to aid…

A study examined the state spending patterns for dislocated worker assistance under Title III of the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) and the Economic Dislocation and Worker Adjustment Assistance Act (EDWAA), as evidenced by Department of Labor (DOL) semiannual reports and other DOL data, for program years 1985-88. JTPA Title III provides funds…

A study examined the Canadian-American Plant Closing Demonstration Project (CAPCDP) to assess the influence of the labor-management approach on factors critical to project success and to identify practices that enabled the labor-management committees set up under the project to work better. CAPCDPs in Idaho, Michigan, New Jersey, and Vermont were…

This document offers a selected review of literature relevant to retraining displaced workers. A description of the economic conditions leading to the displacement of workers, the nature and scope of the displaced worker problem, and factors potentially affecting displaced workers' participation in adult education and training programs is…