Technicians are taking a bigger role and commanding greater respect as the core employees of the digital information age. Employers must take the same care in hiring them as they would hiring managers. (SK)

The information and service industries are and will remain the largest areas of growth/employment. Among current/projected changes in the work environment are the following: greater competition within/beyond the continental borders of the United States; increasing reliance on new equipment/processes; more/constantly changing information to be…

During the last decade, the manufacture of commodities has become increasingly simple, and as a result, has increasingly been exported from the United States to low-wage regions of the world. On the other hand, the U.S. economy has become increasingly service oriented, with service-sector jobs growing rapidly while manufacturing jobs decline. In…

A study identified the gaps between supply and demand for training in Washington State and recommended strategies for reducing them. The study considered the perspectives of both employers and workers and separately analyzed the needs of three groups: youth, adults, and adults with barriers to employment. The study found the following: (1) there…

This document contains a three-hour course on labor force and training considerations in the construction industry, especially as they relate to the pipe trades. The course is divided into eight major sections that cover the following topics: demographics; technological changes; the nation's labor force in general; the construction industry;…

Throughout the early 1900s, the United States could either find technically skilled workers based upon their backgrounds or was able to train workers quickly. Farmers, military personnel, and other sources of skilled workers were available to fill the needs of the workforce. These sources of readily available skilled workers are no longer as…

The extension of the 1989 Institute of Employment Research (IAB)/Prognos projection of the sectoral and job-specific labor force demand by levels of qualification shows that the previous trends toward higher qualification requirements of jobs is expected to continue in Germany. The main reasons are the significant shift in favor of secondary…

A review was conducted of the clusters used to organize the delivery of secondary vocational education in Oregon. The review focused on issues related to Oregon's current and projected labor market needs, national occupational and industrial trends, and the common skills and competencies that form the basis for organizing occupations and training…

This document reports the oral and written testimony submitted at a Congressional hearing on ways in which the government, business, and industry are working to improve the competitiveness of the U.S. work force through education and training initiatives. Witnesses included the following: U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich; U.S. Department of…

This book outlines why the skills of the U.S. workforce have become the single most important factor in the competitiveness, not only of individual companies, but of national economies. It documents the widening gap between the need for highly skilled workers and their availability, and it points out the chilling consequences that may occur if the…

This report is the product of a project called Investing in People, in which the National Conference of Legislatures and Jobs for the Future helped five states as they tried to develop and implement work force preparation and training strategies to meet the challenge of a competitive global economy. The report is organized in six sections. The…

Impacts from the major high technological changes now underway cut across all industrial sectors and most occupational clusters. Technological innovation can increase or decrease the total number of types of jobs. Decline in employment may be offset, however, by new applications and capabilities of goods and services or by employment shifts. While…

This report is an overview of the changes occurring in society and the workplace today, with a prediction of how those changes will affect employment in the future in the United States and especially in Indiana. The report is organized in five sections. The first section summarizes the demographic, economic, and social changes that are presently…

The relative effectiveness of current Job Corps vocational offerings was evaluated, and occupations suitable for addition to the Job Corps vocational curricula were identified. Characteristics of Job Corps enrollees and the occupations in which training was provided were identified. To assess their comparative effectiveness, training occupations…

This paper reviews some key trends revealed by a project on "Technological Change and Human Resources Development: The Service Sector" conducted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. The project seeks to identify and analyze changes in labor markets, work organization, and skill requirements arising from the…