Testimony in this hearing covers how the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) is working in the state of Massachusetts, how the business community perceives and receives the JTPA program, and how Congress may improve the program to better serve and reach the intended population. The hearing was held in Massachusetts, a state leading in forging linkages between policy and economic objectives among state, Federal, and local governments; the private sector; and educational systems. JTPA has been a critical factor in Massachusetts' ability to develop innovative job training and skills training programs, and consequently, to revitalize its economy. Testimonies supported this assertion and also discussed: (1) JTPA as a vehicle for coordinating and consolidating a variety of employment, training and educational services; (2) using the JTPA infrastructure to build a new job training system which would offer remediation, training, retraining, skill upgrading and job placement; (3) the ill effects of the Gramm-Rudman amendment and the substate allocation formula; and (4) suggestions for strengthening the ability of local and regional delivery systems to target their services to the neediest. (ETS)