Since the mid-1990s, job-training and employment programs for low-income people have begun to emphasize not only program development and implementation, but also reform of the "system" of labor market, employers, training providers, and helping agencies. In 1995, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which launched the Jobs Initiative in 6…

Recent Australian research provides a solid body of evidence that training investments can yield very high levels of returns for firms across a range of sectors. It highlights these important factors about returns on investment (ROI): ROI come in many forms; immediate ROI are highest when training is highly focused; measuring ROI is not always…

This appendix includes individual case study profiles of the One-Stop Career Center implementation experiences of the 9 states and 14 local sites included in the study of initial implementation experiences. The 12 state and local profiles are State of Connecticut (CT); CT Works Career Center, New London, CT; CT Works Career Center, Willimantic,…

In international comparisons, participation in adult learning in Finland is high. Work or career development is the main reason for participation. Persons starting with greater educational attainment participate in adult learning opportunities more. Roots of adult education and training (AET) lie in liberal education; those of occupational AET in…

Youth services programs funded by the federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998 provide educational services, mentoring, work experience, job training, and support services to help youth meet educational or employment goals. This first-year evaluation of West Virginia's RESA I Workforce Investment Youth Services Program interviewed 7 staff members…

Women's workforce attachment is becoming increasingly similar to men's, with rising labor force participation rates and overall occupational diversification. However, many factors impede women's ability to achieve the same employment-based economic security that men experience. Although gender-neutral on their face, public policies reinforce…

Drawing on information provided by the American Association of Community College's database, the National Center for Education Statistics, and the U. S. Bureaus of the Census, Labor Statistics, and Economic Analysis, this publication provides a broad statistical overview of all the public and independent two-year colleges in the United States…

An introduction (Maurice Amutabi et al.) begins this 25-chapter book on adult education and training (AET) in a context of globalization. Chapter titles and authors are as follows: "The Impact of Globalization on Adult Education (AE)" (Ove Korsgaard); "In Defense of Civil Society: Canadian AE in Neo-Conservative Times" (Michael…

Access to California Community Colleges (CCC) was examined in order to assist the 2005 Task Force of the Chancellor's Consultation Council develop strategies to address the expected economic, cultural, and demographic changes California will undergo between 1997 and 2005. Access to education will become increasingly important to California as…

This curriculum guide, developed in South Carolina, provides opportunities for students to develop positive attitudes toward work, learn about occupations, and seek and retain employment. It is based on the competencies and foundations identified by the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS). The guide's four units cover…

Since the 1980s, enterprises have experienced massive organizational changes influenced by introduction of and rapid advancements in new technologies, new organizational structures, and new organizational management methods. From Becker's theory of a sequential relationship between education and training to competence in knowledge and skills to…

This book, through a review of the status of working women on bottom and on the top, refutes a set of myths about women, work, and poverty that have shaped welfare reform. Chapter 1 highlights the big changes affecting women in the U.S. economy. Chapter 2 describes who is poor in the United States and examines how poverty has come to be defined.…

A survey was designed to assist in constructing a picture of new vocational education and training professionals working in organizational settings in Australia. They were practitioners whose positional titles included training and development (T&D), human resource development, or human resource practitioners who work within organizational…

The importance of a skilled and highly educated workforce to economic well-being is widely recognized, and the relationship between skills and income is becoming stronger over time. Largely as a result of growing demand for skilled workers, state-level training programs are becoming increasingly important as complements to federal programs.…

This paper presents and discusses a theoretical model that broadens the context for human resource development (HRD) social mandates and provides a process model grounded in self-actualization awareness and thinking that facilitates the individual to go beyond the constraints of potential (as defined by the individual's environment). The model is…