NEW DIRECTIONS IN EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING POLICY: A FEDERAL PERSPECTIVE

The U.S. Department of Labor's "Work Force 2000" project has identified long-term trends that will affect future employment and training policy. These include demographic trends such as a decline in the pool of young labor market entrants and an increase in women, minority, and immigrant workers; the continued shift from goods-producing industries to the service sector; and continued technological innovation in response to increased international competition. These projected changes in the labor market and workplace present a national challenge and an opportunity to tackle the longstanding problems of disadvantaged workers. Cooperative public and private programs to eliminate illiteracy and increase job skills and competencies, ease labor mobility and provide retraining, and attack underlying social problems that support the cycle of welfare dependency and unemployment are needed to provide the workforce America needs for the future.