Unemployment may be considered a normal, if not likely, experience of a person's lifelong career. This paper is based on a primary, qualitative study that focused on the way mature-aged unemployed citizens experience government unemployment and employment agencies: Centrelink and the Job Network in a large regional city. It contributes to existing…

Helping Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander job-seekers find and keep a job has been the focus of recent reforms announced by the Australian Government. This guide describes seven essential characteristics of employment service organisations that lead to successful employment outcomes for their Indigenous clients. Based on a selection of…

Children living in poverty face considerable developmental risks. This report presents interim results from an evaluation of parental employment and educational services delivered within a two-generational, early childhood program targeting low-income families who are expecting a child or who have a child under age 3. This study is part of the…

In February 2009, Macomb Community College held an unusual student "graduation" in a suburban office building. There were 25 "graduates"--all males, many of whom had 10 to 15 years of experience as auto body designers working for original equipment manufacturers (OEM's) and their suppliers in the Detroit metropolitan area. They…

One of the challenges facing Australia is the ageing of the population. Of major concern, especially to government, is that the dependency ratio--a measure of the burden that economically active persons carry by supporting dependent persons--will increase significantly unless older people keep working or immigration is used to change the…

In this article, we introduce a narrative approach to biographical learning; that is, an approach that considers autobiographical storytelling as a practice through which claims about life history are performed and negotiated. Using insights from narrative theory, we highlight evaluations in those narratives and suggest their crucial role in…

The Commonwealth of Virginia, as with other states, operates a panoply of programs whose objectives, either directly or indirectly, are to develop the state's workforce. Some programs enhance the skills of Virginians through training or formal education; whereas other programs, such as the Employment Service, attempt to facilitate the employment…

Looking at "biographical learning" as part of a work transition, the aim of this paper is to investigate how social relations enable and constrain such a learning process in outplacement clients. To examine the process, its character and social conditions, the study draws on interviews with workers who had been made redundant and were enrolled at…

The Administration has proposed two Workforce Investment Act (WIA) reauthorization initiatives that would effectively eliminate requirements that existing employment and training funding streams be targeted for populations and purposes specified by Congress. The first proposal would require states to consolidate funding for the following programs:…

This study investigated sense of coherence (SOC) as a potential predictor of employment outcomes of unemployed job seekers. Ninety-eight unemployed persons were surveyed at 2 measurement points 6 months apart. The findings showed that strong SOC at baseline predicted positive outcomes (reemployment or being a student) 6 months later. SOC evidently…

Despite the growing interest in using financial incentives in public housing to promote work among residents, little systematic information is available on how these innovations operate in practice. By examining the experiences of the Jobs-Plus demonstration sites, this report intends to help answer such basic questions as: What are practical and…

In the context of areas that have little prospect in the medium term of providing even minimal livelihoods locally for their overwhelming poor and increasingly migration-dependent rural populations, what does education for sustainable development (ESD) mean? Do efforts to qualitatively improve migration offer a viable strategy for reducing poverty…

Workforce development organizations are more and more focused on achieving and documenting performance outcomes; yet managers frequently face a challenge getting buy-in from frontline staff about collecting and using data--not only to satisfy funders' needs but to improve services. "Good Stories Aren't Enough" looks at the experience and…

People facing unemployment or who are underemployed need access to community and financial information and resources 24/7. Collaborating with community agencies and organizations, FCS educators developed a website with comprehensive local and state resources and educational tools that the consumer might otherwise not have been aware were…

This article is based on empirical research conducted in Scotland between 2000 and 2002 into the New Deal for Musicians (NDfM)--a UK government training scheme for unemployed musicians which forms part of the "Welfare to Work" initiative. It argues that while the NDfM forms part of a wider lifelong agenda within current adult education…