This review of the Job Corps, the Neighborhood Youth Corps, and the Work Experience and Training Programs, all established under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, was part of National Manpower Policy Task Force report requested by the Senate Subcommittee on Employment, Manpower, and Poverty. It was believed appropriate to examine, after nearly…

Homelessness is a growing problem in the midst of relative prosperity. However, as the problem persists, the public may be becoming increasingly less compassionate to the homeless and annoyed by the problem. Although it is difficult to determine how many people are homeless, the most widely circulated estimate puts their number at about 600,000.…

The Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) program, a component of the 1988 Family Support Act, emphasizes education and occupational training for welfare recipients, but it has not provided sufficient corrective measures to promote work among recipients of Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). The most serious deficiency of JOBS is…

This paper explores the role of public jobs programs in the U.S. economy from the 1930s to the present. It postulates that jobs programs are necessary because they serve four separate but overlapping needs: alleviating joblessness, hardship, and poverty; helping the economy emerge from recession; providing jobs to able-bodied welfare recipients;…