Case histories evaluate the effectiveness of recent and current retraining programs for unemployed workers under Federal, state, municipal, and union-management auspices, judging them by their success in placing workers in useful employment in distressed economic areas. Data on various aspects of retraining programs under a wide variety of circumstances have been assembled, and retrainees are compared with such control groups as rejected applicants, trainees who dropped out before completing their courses, and unemployed workers who did not apply for retraining. Through cost benefit analyses and other evaluations of specific programs in West Virginia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, Tennessee, and southern Illinois, and the cities of Chicago, Fort Worth, and Omaha, where such factors as the personal characteristics of trainees, the labor market, institutional placement, and procedural arrangements varied widely, significant conclusions have been drawn as to the economic and other benefits of retraining programs in general. (The document includes chapter references, appendixes, and 114 tables and figures.) (ly)