The article examines the characteristics of persons not in the labor force in 1973, focusing primarily on how these characteristics bear on the likelihood of these persons entering the labor force. (Author)

The author has sketched briefly the major issues that were in dispute, their historical development, and the method of their resolution in the Job Training Partnership Act. (SSH)

Data from a 1977 survey designed to measure the quality of employment in America are compared with data from surveys in 1969 and 1973, providing trends over an eight-year period. The 1977 survey shows declines both in job satisfaction and in workers' desires to stay in their present employments. (MF)

Widespread layoffs in the closing months of the year caused a sharp rise in the jobless rate. Blue collar workers, women, and minorities were most severely affected. Slumps in retail sales, particularly auto sales, fewer construction starts, declining industrial orders, and effects of the coal miners' strike were contributing factors. (Author/MW)

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is studying the intensity of job search, and the special problems of counting discouraged, secondary, and subemployed workers. (Author)