Manitoba, Canada, workplace stakeholder groups were interviewed to determine the issues they faced and their awareness of, and ability to deal with, workplace basic skills issues. Interviews collected the opinions of 78 employer representatives, 121 employees, and 5 union representatives in the 6 emerging economic sectors of health care products, environmental industries, aerospace, agri-food products, tourism, and information and telecommunications. Findings indicated that most interviewees lacked awareness with respect to the nature and scope of workplace basic skills. Most employees and employers did not consider basic skills to be a workplace issue. Funding policies of small businesses (92% of all companies in Manitoba, Canada) were not flexible enough to accommodate lost revenue from production during employee training. Many employers could list some effects of basic skills deficiencies on the workplace but remained largely unaware of their effect on human resource issues. Unions had the greatest awareness of the nature and scope of basic skills issues. Screening for basic skills proficiency at the entry level had been increasing steadily over the last 5 years. Workplace training programs were largely initiated by employers when they related to company or job-specific needs. Questions arose as to the effectiveness of workplace training. The objectives and evaluation criteria of each stakeholder group reflected their different needs and priorities. (YLB)