A study was conducted in Illinois to determine how effectively the vocational education system was meeting its responsibilities to serve persons in economically depressed areas under the terms of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act of 1984. State records showed that during fiscal year 1987, Illinois expended $982,956 of the $1,336,238 allocation for consumer and homemaking education programs in economically depressed areas. In fiscal year 1988, the amounts were $1,137,202 and $1,396,269, respectively. Illinois thus was in compliance with the requirements of the legislation. Effective programs and services, such as HITS (High Impact Training Services) programs and CHEP (Consumer and Homemaker Education) programs were identified. No evidence was found that efforts are being made by the State Board of Education to determine whether funds received from the Perkins Act are actually raising employment levels or improving the occupational competencies of citizens in the economically depressed areas. The study made recommendations to study the merits of targeting the most severely economically depressed areas of the state with special programs to determine the impact programs could have on decreasing unemployment and raising the occupational competencies of area citizens. (KC)