Many difficult political, administrative, and technical issues must be addressed in developing occupational standards and certification systems in middle income and developing countries. Political issues focus on the clear recognition within the country, particularly by the key stakeholders (government, unions, enterprises), of the following: the…

This book shows how young and unemployed people can be taught the enterprise skills to survive in an uncertain world. Chapter 1 addresses education and employment security. Chapter 2 explores current theory and practice to prepare for employment. Chapter 3 surveys public education programs designed to bridge the gap between school and employment.…

The United States today is becoming less competitive in the world, due in large measure to short-term thinking, perverse incentives for saving and investing, and an absence of global thinking. Six issues demand high priority in order to change this situation: saving and investment, education and training, technology, corporate governance and…

The heritage and history of the United States have influenced its consistent tendency toward voluntary adoption of standards achieved by consensus and toward guidelines rather than regulations. Major initiatives have continued to move toward a systematic, if not a centralized or standardized, approach. Over the past 20 years, varying degrees of…

This panel presentation reacts to "America's Choice" (a publication of the National Center on Education and the Economy), which addresses the preparedness of students to enter the work force. Recognizing the need of continual evaluation of education programs, the paper states that generalizing problems of other areas to rural schools is…

The Soviet Union has no efficient system of vocational training that provides adequate levels of knowledge for specialists working with new techniques and new technologies. General secondary school graduates with no preliminary vocational education become engineers. Secondary vocational graduates lack the opportunity to continue their education in…

Reauthorization of the Vocational Education Act is being considered at a time when technological developments are changing the skill requirements of the labor force. The challenge of training and retraining must be met by a partnership of the governmental, business, and educational sectors. A federal leadership role is crucial in guiding…

The purpose of a project was to increase the use of vocational education as a means of improving productivity. This purpose was to be accomplished through a two-fold goal: enhancing vocational education responsiveness to technological change and promoting a heightened public- and private-sector awareness of vocational education as a mechanism for…

The proceedings of a meeting which focused on topics and issues related to the pipeline for scientists and engineers are presented. They include the meeting agenda, introductory comments, an overview, summaries of five presentations, the meeting summary, and a list of participants. The overview (by Betty Vetter) outlines some ways of measuring the…

This paper presents evidence on the high unemployment rates for black youths and considers reasons for the widening gap in the labor market experience of black and white youth. The paper consists of five sections. In the first, historical evidence on the declining rate of black youth employment over the last 25 years is summarized. In the second…

Information on training and remediation activities for unemployed and underemployed persons is described and analyzed with emphasis on programs authorized by the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA). Chapter 1 overviews the dilemma of persons with employment and earnings problems and approaches to dealing with the problem. CETA, its…

Growth of a human resources perspective among work institutions, mirrored by the lifelong learning perspective in educational institutions, has created an opportunity for collaboration among and within education, business, labor, and government. Barriers to such interaction between education and work include different formats for teaching and…

Unemployment among young people, particularly for minorities and the disadvantaged, has been a persistent and growing problem in this country for the past decades. In response to this situation, Congress in 1977 enacted the Youth Employment and Demonstration Projects Act, the first comprehensive job and training legislation devoted solely to youth…

The Manpower and Economic Education Program (MEE) is an occupational orientation course at the secondary level. Experiences in implementing MEE are discussed. The strategy used involves doing everything possible to promote programs that help youngsters prepare for effective participation in the manpower market. School districts are encouraged to…

This eighth, ninth, or tenth grade year-long economic education course is written from the viewpoint of the individual as a worker/income-earner. Its primary purpose is to provide the schools with a means for improving the preparation of young people for effective participation in the changing economy. The educational objectives are: 1) to develop…