Changes in skill requirements, training needs, the industrial and occupational mix of employment, and the spatial location of jobs are 'natural' consequences of a dynamic economy. These changes, in turn, influence employers' hiring and staffing patterns, workers' career paths, and economic growth and development. However, the evolving nature of production processes and technological change have not figured prominently in the development and implementation of policies regarding the preparation of the work force of the future. This paper presents a new perspective: "skill-training life cycle," which evolves as the level of demand and standardization of skills change with the development of a technology, including the steps of introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. This life-cycle framework in general, and the skill-training life cycle, in particular, suggest a wide range of human resource policy implications for employers, educators and economic planners. Different, although interrelated, roles for employers, schools, and other providers of education and training emerge over the course of the skill-training life cycle. The following three work force development topics are illustrative of these evolving responsibilities: (1) providing new and emerging skills; (2) anticipating skill obsolescence and plant closings; and (3) balancing short-term and long-term work force needs. (ABL)