Requiem for Employment and Training Programs.

In the middle of the 20th century, job training was largely unnecessary, since workers were desperately needed to labor in manufacturing and construction jobs. Skills were learned on the job, and even a high school diploma was not needed for most occupations. Workers received wages that allowed them to raise a family comfortably and then to retire after 40 years with an acceptable standard of living. Today, however, most jobs that can be obtained by high school dropouts, and many that require high school diplomas, do not pay enough to support a family. Even some jobs that require associate degrees do not pay a living wage for a family (defined as 150 percent of the poverty threshold). This trend coincides with the trend of federal anti-poverty, job training programs to train fewer people than in the 1960s and 1970s, and for the amounts of training time to be too short to provide the occupational skills needed to obtain a job providing a decent income. If adults are to be trained sufficiently, and if appropriate "second-chance" opportunities are to be provided to workers, funding for job training programs must be increased dramatically, and the programs must include longer occupational education components and worker stipends to provide for living expenses during training. (Includes 6 tables.) (KC)