Technology shifts gears. The workers who control it need to learn how to shift gears, too. Workers brought up with universal schooling would respect authority, learn enough "geometry and mechanics" to use in their trades, keep invention alive, and finally see through "the interested complaints of faction and sedition." In other…

The author suggests that technical colleges expand their efforts to provide support, motivation, and retraining for dislocated workers. In addition to technical skills, he suggests that dislocated workers should study the social sciences to strengthen intellectual skills that will be useful in goal setting and decision making. (CH)

Presents the views of the Consortium for Worker Education (New York, New York), which advocates a formal schooling system to upgrade the skills of the American worker. The first step toward systemic worker education would be the passage of federal legislation to allow state and local governments to establish Workforce Development Boards to provide…

This report addresses the degree to which retraining has met the challenge of ensuring that the American work force has adequate skills to cope with the changing world of work. Chapter 1 sketches economic, social, and technological changes that help explain why the current reactive approach needs to be more active. In chapter 2, the extensiveness…

Technological advances necessitate the continuous retraining of the work force. Three technologies are having greatest impact on the labor force: (1) the scope and depth of computer skills required by most jobs continue to expand; (2) robotics in manufacturing means that certain new jobs are more technical and require postsecondary education; and…

A study examined management perspectives on retraining workers and educational alternatives for such training. During the study, more than 300 senior human resource executives from Fortune 1500 firms across the nation were interviewed by telephone. Of those interviewed, 84 percent felt that their workers are concerned about such issues as: losing…

The Older Worker Project was conducted to provide employment services to unemployed persons aged 45 and older who live in the western part of the Hennepin County (Minneapolis, Minnesota) area. Although the expected result was permanent employment of the participants, the intention of this demonstration project was to refine service approaches…