The Federal Reserve (the Fed) is the central bank of the United States. It has a congressional mandate to promote maximum sustainable employment and price stability. In normal times, the Fed seeks to achieve this mandate by setting the position or "stance" of monetary policy, primarily by managing the level of short-term interest rates.…

Appropriate for secondary school social studies, this booklet considers the decline of certain basic industries in the United States and the unemployment which accompanies this decline. The document contains five sections. Section one, "The Blue-Collar Blues," examines the uneven nature of the current economic recovery, which has left many…

The United Kingdom's system of apprenticeships and its relationship to vocational education and employment are discussed, with focus on recent government initiatives, access to apprenticeships, and efforts to coordinate training with labor market needs. (MSE)

This first of two volumes is organized around the theme of the social, political, and economic contexts of education and training. (Volume II focuses on the development of vocational policy. Both volumes form part of the Open University MA Module, Education, Training, and the Future of Work.) An introduction (Geoff Esland, John Ahier) provides an…