The "future of work" is an evolving concept with wide-reaching implications for the economy, workforce, education, and society--including workers, business owners, students, and the people who serve them. The impact from these changes brings a sense of urgency to stay a few steps ahead and address systems' gaps and faulty machinery that…

In the nation today, 4.6 million young adults ages 16 to 24 are out of school and unemployed. More than one-third live in poverty. For these young people, commonly referred to as opportunity youth, building skills and gaining work experience are key to upward mobility. However, they face significant barriers to entering the labor market.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the distribution of learning and training opportunities in the Finnish workforce. It will concentrate on the sectors of the workforce that lack these opportunities. Design/Methodology/Approach: The Working Conditions Barometer (WCB) data from 2008, 2009 and 2010 are used (N = 3,326) in this…

Educating high school students for both college and career is difficult. Teaching trade skills seems alien to the academic culture. But new research indicates that soft skills are quite important to judgments of employability and that youth learn many soft skills in traditional academic subjects (e.g., literature). A focus on soft skills allows…

The 2016 Apprenticeship Student Outcomes (APPSO) Survey is the twelfth annual survey of former apprenticeship students. Former students who completed their apprenticeship training at a B.C. post-secondary institution between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2015 were eligible for this survey. These former students were surveyed by telephone and online…

Background: There is no current data about employment/unemployment of adults with Down syndrome in the United States. The data that exists includes adults with Down syndrome as part of the larger group of people with disabilities or people with intellectual disability. Method: This study used a survey to investigate paid and volunteer employment,…

Employee engagement and retention are two areas of focus within industry that help organizations assess business metrics such as training effectiveness, hiring practices, and workplace culture. Several methods exist with which to research engagement and retention levels within an organization and research to date has primarily focused on employee…

This report summarizes the two-year findings of a rigorous random assignment evaluation of the WorkAdvance model, a sectoral training and advancement initiative. Launched in 2011, WorkAdvance goes beyond the previous generation of employment programs by introducing demand-driven skills training and a focus on jobs that have career pathways. The…

Preparing secondary students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) for a variety of potential professions is important to enhance their postsecondary employment outcomes. This article provides step-by-step guidelines for practitioners to use video modeling interventions to develop the customer service skills of students with ASD who are employed or…

As the economy rapidly shifts toward automation, there is growing consensus that while new jobs will be created, change is the new normal. Youth need training in soft skills alongside preparation for lifetime learning. Systemic change, not minor improvements, will be necessary. States, districts, and schools are adjusting to the aspirations of…

This study explored drivers of participation in job-related lifelong learning (LLL) among low-educated mature-aged employees and compared them across four Nordic countries. Workplaces can be low-threshold, effective arenas for development of their skills in work and learning. The paper builds on the Bounded Agency Model and theories of learning…

A single subject alternating treatment design was used to compare most-to-least and least-to-most prompts to teach work tasks in community businesses. Four students with moderate to severe disabilities, two paraprofessionals, and one transition teacher participated in the study. Results of the study suggest that both prompting strategies were…

Roughly one in five American adults, or approximately 53 million people, live with some type of disability, and their unemployment and poverty rates are nearly double the rates of people without disabilities. Labor force participation for people with disabilities is just 20.2 percent--less than a third of the rate of participation among people…

The Skills for Jobs White Paper and funding and accountability consultation set out the Government's plans to introduce a greater focus on the outcomes of learning, including a new Skills Measure that looks at the employment and other outcomes that learners achieve. Will this give colleges and providers greater freedom to deliver for learners, or…

The Annual Service Plan Report is designed to meet the requirements of the "Budget Transparency and Accountability Act" (BTAA), which sets out the legislative framework for planning, reporting and accountability for Government organizations. Under the BTAA, the Minister is required to report on the actual results of the ministry's…