These proceedings consist of summaries of the following papers and discussions that were presented at a conference designed to bring leaders from education, business, state and local government, and labor together to discuss Minnesota's need to address the issue of basic skills in the workplace. The volume begins with a foreword by Rosemarie Park and includes summaries of the following: a presentation made by Harold Hodgkinson entitled "Basic Skills and the Workforce: Demographic Trends," a "Roundtable on Urban Youth" that was convened by Mary Jo Richardson on the basic and work skill needs of urban youth, a roundtable that was chaired by Monica Manning on workers being recycled into high technology, a roundtable that was chaired by Jeff Farmer on the educational needs of workers in manufacturing industries facing retraining, a roundtable that was jointly chaired by Greta Ploetz and Paul Moe on the educational needs of the structurally unemployed, and a speech by State Senator Roger Moe entitled "A Legislative Response to the Training and Retraining Needs of One State." (MN)