These four reports of recent research and policy studies are the four top-rated papers from a national competition open to graduate students enrolled in doctoral programs in various social disciplines or recipients of degrees in 1980. In the first monograph, "Job Skills and Youth Unemployment," historical and current evidence refuting the assumption that lack of job skills is the principal cause of youth unemployment is presented. In the second report, entitled "Employer Involvement: a Study of Public and Private Sector Linkages to Youth Programs," the involvement of employers in 29 exemplary in-school demonstration projects is examined. A review of literature on the job search behavior of American workers, with emphasis on youth job search techniques, a statistical analysis of the labor exchange process, and policy prescriptions for improving such services to youth constitute the third report, "Improving the Labor Exchange Process.""The Counseling Needs of Migrant Adolescents in Vocational Training Programs," the final paper, examines a pilot study exploring the idea that migrant adolescents in vocational training programs have counseling needs unique from other minority and non-minority adolescents. (MN)