THE PURPOSES OF THE STUDY WERE (1) TO EXAMINE THE SELECTION PROCESS FOR TRAINING, AND (2) TO DELINEATE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSONS WHO WERE SELECTED OR REJECTED OR, THOUGH REGISTERED, NEVER APPLIED FOR TRAINING. A SYSTEMATIC 10 PERCENT SAMPLE, 1,958 PERSONS, OF THE EMPLOYMENT SERVICE (ES) POPULATION WAS DRAWN FROM THE ES-511 ACTIVE CARD FILE IN THREE OFFICES IN THE NEWARK AREA DURING THE FINAL MONTHS OF 1964. OF THE ORIGINAL SAMPLE, 498 PERSONS, CLASSIFIED BY MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING ACT (MDTA) STATUS, WERE INTERVIEWED IN THE SUMMER OF 1965. THE 10 PERCENT SAMPLE AND THE INTERVIEW SAMPLE WERE COMPARED AS TO DEMOGRAPHIC, PSYCHOLOGICAL, AND OCCUPATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS, EMPLOYMENT STATUS, COURSES, AND TRAINING AND POST-TRAINING EXPERIENCE. TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES UNDER MDTA WERE AVAILABLE TO ONLY A SMALL FRACTION OF THE UNEMPLOYED. WHEN COMPARED TO THE POPULATION AS A WHOLE, PERSONS ACCEPTED FOR TRAINING WERE MORE FREQUENTLY IN THE PRIME WORKING-AGE GROUPS, HAD MORE YEARS OF SCHOOLING, AND WERE MORE LIKELY TO BE NEGROES. OF THOSE ENROLLED IN TRAINING, 56 PERCENT OF THE NEGROES AND 47 PERCENT OF THE WHITES COMPLETED THE COURSES. HOWEVER, 70 PERCENT OF THOSE REJECTED BY MDTA WERE NEGROES. COUNSELING AND TESTING WERE IMPORTANT MECHANISMS IN THE MDTA SELECTION PROCESS. GENERALLY, THOSE COMPLETING THE TRAINING, AND MANY OF THE DROPOUTS, WERE SATISFIED WITH IT. THE APPENDIX CONTAINS THE METHODOLOGICAL ANALYSIS. A RELATED DOCUMENT IS VT 002 700. (EM)