A study was done to determine the extent of current employment, expected job growth, necessary job skills, and the educational background preferred by employers in the solid waste field. Eight different questionnaires were developed and representatives of the solid waste management industry from 1,004 state agencies, municipalities, and private companies, both within Connecticut and nationwide, were surveyed. Based on 297 responses, there were 7 conclusions, some of which follow: There will be a steady increase of manpower requirements in resource recovery and hazardous waste management areas as well as the demand for skilled labor increasing and unskilled labor decreasing; many towns in Connecticut having less than 20,000 population will continue to use sanitary landfill operations whereas larger towns will be using resource recovery methods; and in municipalities, nationwide, the development of sanitary landfill operations requiring both skilled and semi-skilled labor is the trend. Some of the recommendations included the need for vocational educational institutions to collaborate with local, State, and Federal agencies to meet the manpower needs of the future in the field of solid waste management, and the need for a systems analysis on State and Federal levels to correlate and consolidate data on the technological training required to meet tomorrow's employment needs in solid waste occupations. (The eight questionnaires are appended.) (EM)