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This qualitative, exploratory study examines the development and implementation of diversity training in small and mid-size organizations in a Midwestern region of the United States. The results are contrasted with diversity best practices and found lacking in key elements identified as most likely to yield success. Specifically, the organizations in this study did not provide training beyond awareness level, failed to conduct front-end needs assessment, provided little if any in-depth evaluation of diversity training and showed varying support for diversity endeavors from the leadership and through connecting diversity training with other systemic initiatives. The article concludes with recommendations for additional exploration of adapting effective diversity training practices to minimize pitfalls and maximize possibilities in small and mid-size systems.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

Personal reemployment accounts (PRAs) are a new strategy intended to help specific recipients of Unemployment Insurance (UI) build job skills and find work. PRAs are lump sum accounts of up to $3,000 that are fully managed by the unemployed worker and valid for one year. They are targeted to UI recipients who are likely to exhaust their benefits, and recipients can choose how and when to spend funds from their account to purchase reemployment services. PRA recipients may also elect to receive the funds as a bonus for reentering the workforce and keeping a job. In 2004, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) launched the PRA demonstration project as the first step in examining this new strategy. ETA selected seven states - Florida, Idaho, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Texas, and West Virginia - to serve as PRA demonstration states. These states received a combined total of nearly $8 million to offer PRAs to a minimum of 2,270 unemployed workers. The evaluation of this project will cover the first two years of implementation and will involve both a qualitative and a quantitative study. This interim report presents information about the first year of PRA implementation, based on telephone interviews and site visits to each state and an analysis of state quarterly data reports. Early findings include: PRAs have not significantly altered staffing or service delivery structures within the participating One-Stop Centers, and most sites do not have a staff position dedicated solely to PRAs. Overall, the states have maintained a high degree of flexibility and customer choice in the use of PRAs by placing limited, if any, restrictions on PRA recipients’ selection of training providers. States have also allowed PRA recipients to purchase a broad range of supportive services that help sustain a job search; contact between One-Stop staff and PRA recipients is limited to the purpose of withdrawing account funds and occurs predominantly via telephone, email, or mail. There is no free access to career counseling and limited face-to-face contact overall. The early analysis suggests that PRA recipients will restrict spending on services in order to maximize the amount of a reemployment bonus. But, when funds are used to purchase services, the majority of spending is directed to supportive services in five of the seven states.

Published abstract. Show less

This study is conducted with 56 recently retired full-time sports coaches to examine the importance of career awareness, postsport career planning, and career transition needs. Results indicate that the individuals do not have a high level of career awareness, have done relatively little postsport career planning during their coaching careers, and moderately appreciate their career transition needs. However, a positive relationship is found between support systems for coaches and career awareness, career planning, and career transition needs. Results are discussed with regard to career transition theory, as well as previous research on career transitions among sports coaches and athletes. Recommendations for future research, as well as suggestions for career counseling practice, are suggested.

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This report examines information on the abilities and qualities needed to enter employment with a high school diploma, including the kinds of skills and abilities that employers say they want. The report begins with information on the age of hiring and then discusses what employers report that they want high school graduates to know and be able to do. The report examines the following questions: How has the occupational structure changed over the past decades? How is it changing with respect to the educational attainment needed to enter occupations? These questions are investigated by considering trends in educational attainment, the comparative returns in employment success at different levels of educational attainment, how employment projections can inform educational planning, where job openings are expected to occur over the next decade, and the requirements of occupations that are projected to grow. In conclusion, the author examines the prospects for earning a 'middle-class' wage with qualifications less than a college degree, and the new basics that are likely to be required in order to earn such a wage. The author stresses the need for considerable improvements in educational achievement if high school graduates are to be qualified for the better-paying jobs that can enable a middle-class life style. Show less

Workforce Development Strategies Inc. (WDSI) conducted the 60 + Success Study in order to: better understand who the mature workforce is in the US region of North Central Indiana; what their retirement intentions and challenges are; what employment, entrepreneurial and volunteer opportunities they are interested in and skilled to undertake; and what opportunities actually exist within the region for mature workers to participate in. The study involved: the collection of demographic data for the region’s older population; interviews with older individuals to identify their attitudes and concerns about working and ageing; a survey of older job seekers; interviews with businesses in the region to assess their awareness and attitudes about mature workers; and further research into the public policy issues that impact ageing and working. Based on this initial research, three important findings have emerged: (1) mature workers in the region have lower educational attainment rates than their peers in other parts of the country, which is a concern when the regional economy needs increased skills and knowledge in good jobs; (2) businesses in North Central Indiana are unprepared for the demographic reality of an ageing population and a mature workforce; and (3) interest in entrepreneurship, which will provide the basis for the future economic health of the region, is uncertain among mature workers and citizens. Show less

With pregnant/parenting teens constituting 12.73% of students in vocational high schools, both students and policy-makers view this as the most appropriate educational opportunity for this ‘at risk’ group. The focus of this chapter is on the impact of vocational education and training (VET) on teen mothers in the USA. It poses two questions: How well does VET serve this population? Are pregnant/parenting teens satisfied with their experiences of VET? The chapter concludes that the US has largely failed in its commitment to pregnant/parenting teens. The following suggestions are made by researchers to address this issue: being aware of the degree to which public policy on the issue of teen pregnancy has been shaped by conservative and anti-feminist perspectives in North America, Australia, New Zealand and Britain; trying to sort out the degree to which sexism informs school policy and the personal perspectives of its staff; and increasing funds for gender equity training for teachers and counsellors.

The monograph from which this chapter is taken is indexed at TD/TNC 87.416; individual chapters are indexed from TD/TNC 87.417 to TD/TNC 87.432. Show less

This issue, entitled ‘’Community college missions in the 21st century’ and edited by Barbara K. Townsend and Kevin J. Dougherty, examines the societal and functional missions of community colleges. Changing social, economic and demographic factors change and reform individual community college’s emphases on different insitutional missions, and different college constituencies support different missions. It is suggested that implicit societal missions underlie functional missions and policy makers should take into account the tensions between the two concepts of mission. Chapters include: Community college missions: a theoretical and historical perspective / Kevin J. Dougherty, Barbara K. Townsend (pp.5-13); A case for community college’s open access mission / Henry D. Shannon, Ronald C. Smith (pp.15-21); Appraising the efficacy of civic education at the community college / George H. Higginbottom, Richard M. Romano (pp.23-32); The transfer mission: tried and true, but troubled / Barbara K. Townsend, Kristin B. Wilson (pp.33-41); Prioritizing service to the academically talented: the honors college / Deborah L. Floyd, Alexandria Holloway (pp.43-52); The uncertain future of the community college workforce development mission / James Jacobs, Kevin J. Dougherty (pp.53-62); Emerging institutional support for developmental element / Carol A. Kozeracki, J. Bryan Brooks (pp.63-73); Competing missions: balancing entrepreneurialism with community responsiveness in community college continuing education divisions / John A. Downey, Brian Pusser, J. Kirsten Turner (pp.75-82); Enrollment management in the comprehensive community college: a case study of Bronx Community College / Nancy Ritze (pp.83-90); Prioritizing community college missions: a directional effort / Christing Johnson McPhail, Irving Pressley McPhail (pp.91-99).

Individual articles are indexed from TD/TNC 88.40 to TD/TNC 88.49. Show less

Welfare-to-work programmes have replaced passive welfare recipiency as a means of fighting poverty in many developed countries during the last few decades. There is a belief that placing welfare recipients into subsidised jobs and/or strengthening their skills and knowledge will help them acquire steady jobs. There has, however, been no systematic review of the effects of such programmes on employment, earnings and welfare payments, searching systematically for studies from all parts of the world.

The objectives of this study are to estimate the effects of work programmes, including elements such as job search assistance, job search training, subsidised employment, job clubs, vocational training, etc. on welfare recipients' employment and economic self-sufficiency. Welfare-to-work programmes in the USA have shown small, but consistent effects in moving welfare recipients into work, increasing earnings, and lowering welfare payments. The results are not clear for reducing the proportion of recipients receiving welfare. Little is known about the impacts of welfare-to-work programmes outside of the USA. Show less

This article details the transition of second career teachers to the workplace called ‘school’. Post-baccalaureate students at a mid-size comprehensive state university completed surveys pre- and post-student teaching. Participants responded to the personal and professional challenges in changing careers. Issues faced by the non-traditional students emerged. An increasing number of adults are changing careers and entering teacher certification programs. The study was conducted to discover the special challenges graduate teacher certification students encountered when leaving a career field and becoming novice teachers. Forty graduate students in the study completed an extensive certification program of courses related to the art and science of teaching. Open-ended surveys were used for the students to reflect on personal and professional expectations prior to and following the student teaching semester. Teacher educators who address the needs of second career teachers, such as increasing field experiences, providing classroom management and time management strategies, may lead second career teachers to use the unique competencies they bring to the teaching-learning setting.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

Incorporating new empirical data and using a wide variety of methods such as econometrics, general equilibrium and case studies, this volume provides an investigation into the causes of the deterioration in the relative economic fortunes of less-skilled workers across various countries, with a focus on the role of globalisation. It reveals how in the past 30 years, the decline in the wages and employment of less-skilled workers relative to skilled workers in Europe and North America has coincided with an acceleration in 'globalisation'. The latter's rapid pace is indicated by the strong growth in both world trade and foreign direct investment which, in turn, have been stimulated by various factors such as reductions in trade barriers, a drastic decline in the costs of communication and transportation and the internationalization of production. Although it is now widely held that the main cause of this rise in inequality seems to be a shift in demand towards higher skilled workers, the book aims to shed light on whether it is trade or technology that is primarily responsible for this demand shift. Importantly, the studies in the book describe how globalisation and technological change are interacting rather than separate forces.

Edited excerpt from publisher's website.

The chapters are: Globalisation and the labour market / Robert Anderton and Paul Brenton (pages 1-10); Inequality, trade and defensive innovation in the United States / Robert Anderton and Eva Oscarsson (pages 11-28); The impact of increased openness on job creation and job destruction in Portugal / Ana Rute Cardoso (pages 29-37); International trade and the income position of low-skilled and high-skilled workers in the European Union / Ludo Cuyvers, Michael Dumont and Glenn Rayp (pages 38-57); Using structural models in trade-technology wage inequality decompositions / Lisandro Abrego and John Whalley (pages 58-71); Adjustment to globalisation: a study of the footwear industry in Europe / Paul Brenton, Anna Maria Pinna and Marc Vancauteren (pages 72-95); International trade in intermediate inputs: the case of the automobile industry / Markus Diehl (pages 96-125); Outsourcing, outward processing and output quality: a case-study from the ceramic tableware industry / Valerie Jarvis (pages 126-142); Adjusting to globalisation: policy responses in Europe and the US / Paul Brenton (pages 143-161). Show less