The community college's role in economic development has expanded beyond providing traditional vocational education and job training to include activities as diverse as management and technical assistance for new and small businesses, tech prep programs with high schools, cooperative education programs, partnerships with state agencies, and…

Four major trends reshaping the American economy are having a tremendous effect on the number and nature of jobs in the United States: (1) corporate downsizing; (2) the outsourcing of work and services; (3) increasing use of "contingent" workers; and (4) the increasing income disparity between high school and college graduates. These trends have…

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 1991, a study was conducted to compare contract training in selected community colleges providing service to business, industry, and government. A sample of 17 colleges was selected from the League for Innovation Contract Training Professional Network; and phone interviews were conducted with and questionnaires were returned by 16 of the 17…

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…

The displaced worker is an individual who has been laid off from a job and has little or no hope of returning to that particular position. The number of displaced workers is large and is apt to increase. Displaced workers are typically male, older, not highly educated, and are union members with several years of seniority and above-average wages.…

This document reports the oral and written testimony of witnesses at a Congressional hearing held to examine H.R. 3266, the Workforce 2000 Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) Amendments of 1989. The bill is aimed at reforming JTPA targeting and training efforts. It focuses on critical support services and targeting issues and includes provisions…

The High Technology Center at Francis Tuttle Vo-Tech Center in Oklahoma City conducted an 18-month demonstration program, beginning in January 1989, to train or retrain average workers, unemployed because of cutbacks in their field or lack of marketable skills, for careers in high technology. The High Technology Center offered adults training in…

State and local governments have been in the front lines of dealing with the adverse effects of recent economic change. States have embarked on a dual approach to economic adjustment. First, they have established programs that respond to economic change and cushion its deleterious effects on communities and individuals. Second, they have attempted…

This book contains seven chapters on work and older workers based on an international symposium held at the University of South Florida in 1989. Chapter titles and authors are as follows: (1) "The Corporate Sector's Stake in Older Workers" (Daniel Knowles); (2) "A Seller's Market for Older Workers" (Audrey Freedman); (3) "Retirees' Reentry into…

A study examined innovative workplace practices in companies that employ significant numbers of entry-level workers. In Phase 1 of the study, a literature review was undertaken, and interviews were conducted with human resource directors in 58 companies in the Pacific Northwest nominated as exemplary in their work with entry-level workers.…

This paper was designed to assist educators and employers as they plan curricula in language and communication skills for students and employees entering, or experiencing a transition to, automated work settings. The strategies presented in this paper may be adaptable to secondary school business skills and basic English courses, pre-employment…

Northampton County Area Community College implemented a program of tuition waiver for unemployed adult residents of its sponsor area on a space-available basis in credit courses only. In addition to providing relief and a positive interventionary program to aid the unemployed, the project tested certain hypotheses concerning the nature of training…

Five strategies have been identified as particularly promising as the most useful ways government can spend money to aid dislocated workers. The mix of income support programs can be enriched for workers who have been unemployed for a long time but who are not permanently dislocated. For most dislocated workers, only limited job searching…