This bulletin is adapted from the third panel of three at a Manhattan Institute conference. The focus of this paper is on the re-entering ex-offender population. Howard Husock introduces the people who are on the front lines, working day-to-day with people coming out of prison, thinking about what are the right strategies. These people include…

Highlights a national study of projects in England and Wales working with young people leaving foster care, and analyzes national initiatives since the 1989 Children Act. Examines implications for local and national policy and practice. Argues that, despite a new commitment by government to this leaving-care group, sustained solutions remain…

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children with Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), which establishes work-focused, time-limited welfare benefits. TANF permits tribes to receive funds directly from the federal government to administer their own…

Recommendations of a 1980 symposium on English as a second language (ESL) programs for Southeast Asian adult refugees and immigrants in Canada are discussed, along with six principles toward a Canadian policy for providing ESL training to this population. Ten major points of the 53 recommendations of a position papers of Teachers of English to…

Five strategies have been identified as particularly promising as the most useful ways government can spend money to aid dislocated workers. The mix of income support programs can be enriched for workers who have been unemployed for a long time but who are not permanently dislocated. For most dislocated workers, only limited job searching…

Recent reforms assume that welfare recipients can achieve employment if welfare agencies just give them a "push". Over the next ten years, the "employment solution" to welfare faces the following three challenges: (1) employing all employable welfare recipients; (2) helping them get and keep good jobs; and (3) reconstructing a…

The federal government needs to provide employment and training assistance to help dislocated workers to become reemployed. Worker mobility assistance should not be focused upon as a major thrust of reemployment programs, since American workers are remarkably resistant to pressures to move to more promising labor markets. Efficient and effective…

This congressional report outlines and discusses the Committee on Veterans' Affairs' amendment to the proposed Veterans Employment Training Amendments of 1987. The text of the committee substitute amendment is presented in the first section. The second section, which is devoted to the background of the amendments, discusses the following topics:…

The American economy is in a state of flux; it will probably generate more displaced workers; and it has yet to determine a policy to assist such workers in preparing for and locating new jobs. Although the extent of the problem is not entirely known, a low estimate is that some 2.2 million workers may have been affected by plant closings and mass…

This document reports the oral and written testimony submitted at a Congressional hearing on how job training works--how effective employment training programs succeed and how that success is measured. The hearing was based on a General Accounting Office study that found four hallmarks of effective job training: individual commitment, removal of…

Great Britain's New Deal is designed to provide unemployed individuals between the ages of 18 and 24 years with an array of counseling and guidance services called the Gateway. It will include access to independent career advice and a specialist assigned to help them overcome their particular barriers to employment. Key elements of the Gateway are…

Increased international competition, rapid technological innovation, and profound demographic changes have all created an urgent need for a skilled and capable work force. The work force development system that has been assembled over the years in the United States is extensive; however, the goals and services provided by a wide range of public…

With minor exceptions, the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) program is working well and is meeting its legislative mandates. The vigorous public-private partnerships that have emerged at the local community level and the strong leadership role assumed by private sector representatives on the State Job Training Coordinating Councils and Private…

Since September 11, 2001, New York City (NYC) has lost over 130,000 jobs, unemployment in the boroughs is around 9% and unemployment benefits have run out for many. NYC has long neglected workforce development, viewing it as a social service to distribute federal funds and train entry workers for dead-end jobs. To create a workforce system from…

Evidence gathered through interviews with members of trade associations, unions, professional societies, business, and industry as well as data obtained from the Department of Labor, congressional testimony, and publications of the commerical and trade press reveals that the shortage of skilled workers in America is reaching crisis proportions.…