Over the past 25 years, the total number of students in college has increased by about 50 percent. But the number of students graduating with degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects has remained more or less constant. In 2009 the United States graduated 89,140 students in the visual and performing arts, more…

Since the late 1990s there has been a fundamental shift in the way schooling and even education as a whole is evaluated. From this new perspective the education system would seem to be interpreted as a sub-system of the economic system and thus subservient to it. Decisions on education matters seem to have become determinant for individual…

Recommends a dual strategy of investment in high wages/high technology and demand-led on-the-job skill acquisition, which will result in learning by doing at a higher technical level and relatively high productivity and return on investment. Offers this strategy as a replacement for costly publicly funded vocational training. (SK)

Nine articles describe the experience of Jobrotation in France, Denmark, and Germany, a program that enables workers to take training leaves of absence while their jobs are performed by specially trained replacements. Discusses benefits of this human capital investment for businesses, workers, unemployed persons, and government. (SK)