A study team researched impediments to the use of modern skill training methods in construction that have been caused by the U.S. Department of Labor. The problem that the study sought to define was whether the Labor Department impedes use of training innovations through the combined effect of the regulations promulgated by its Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training (BAT) and its administration of the Davis-Bacon Act. It was found that most training in open-shop construction is carried on by large contractors in programs tailored to individual needs or by associations of open-shop contractors. Very few of these programs have been approved by BAT, which has shown a strong preference for traditional programs run by joint labor-management committees. Refusals to register a program have placed a heavy financial burden on organizations sponsoring new and innovative training programs, since Davis-Bacon regulations permit only workers in registered apprenticeship programs to be paid training wages (less than the established journeyman minimum). It was recommended that (1) BAT reexamine its policies concerning approval of craft-training programs, since current procedures deny approval to non-union or independent training programs; and (2) the administration of prevailing wage laws should be changed to recognize that much construction work does not require all the skills of a journeyman, but rather of a helper or subjourneyman. (YLB)