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…

Today's information technology-based economy makes job-related knowledge and workplace skills obsolete faster than ever before. As a result, many adults are heading back to school, often because of the demands of the marketplace that has little place for those without current credentials. (Author/JOW)

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)

The rapid technological advancement that U.S. society is experiencing has increased the likelihood that workers will have to be trained and retrained throughout their working lives to meet continually changing job requirements. This situation has challenged instructors of technical communication who are faced with the overlap of traditional…

Most recent research on the impact of the new computer technology on skills has been focused on developing arguments that either support or contradict the "deskilling" thesis put forth by some economists and sociologists in the mid- and late 1970s. Although this research remains inconclusive, some generalizations can be suggested. The research…

This report on the textile industry focuses on the training and education of production-level textile workers--from unskilled factory hands to first-level supervisors. It is part of a larger study of the educational implications of broad economic changes, particularly the spread of microelectronic technologies, growing national and international…

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…

This document reports the results of work in identifying promising approaches to the provision of technological update to vocational/technical teachers and barriers as well as facilitators to the use of those approaches. (Technological update refers to the technical, as opposed to pedagogical, knowledge and skills needed by vocational teachers to…

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…

Data gathered in theoretical and field studies on human resources development carried out by international and national teams and through site visits were analyzed to show developing themes and issues in human resources, particularly in the area of skills development. Some of the issues and themes that will have an impact on the future of skills…

This working paper, part of a project on the applicability of the French training system in the United States, argues that a systematic national commitment to midcareer worker retraining is necessary for American prosperity and international economic competitiveness. Although findings of the early human capital theorists demonstrated that an…

DURING THE PAST FEW DECADES, A NUMBER OF UNIONS HAVE HELPED MEMBERS TO RETRAIN TO COPE WITH TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE OR TO UPGRADE TRADE OR CRAFT SKILLS, AND SOME UNIONS HAVE PARTICIPATED WITH EMPLOYERS IN JOINT APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMS AND SIMILAR EFFORTS. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING PROVISIONS FOR RETRAINING HAVE BEEN DESIGNED TO KEEP AS MANY WORKERS AS…

This paper attempts to analyze the changing nature of work in today's economy and to investigate employment problems and mobility opportunities for disadvantaged workers. Principal dimensions of employment opportunities in the "old economy" of the 1950s and 1960s are highlighted, and the impact of the emergence of the "new…

Implications for universities of high technology industries and the labor market are unclear. There is a need to ease the transition for those categories of workers who will be affected: women, low- and medium-skill workers in manufacturing, and certain categories of middle-level managers. The provision of highly qualified personnel is the…