Improving the Odds Increasing the Effectiveness of Publicly Funded Training

The labor market has changed dramatically in recent decades. In the 1980s, an average of 2 million workers each year lost their jobs because of the increasingly global economy, rapid advances in technology global economy, rapid advances in technology, and corporate downsizing. During the same period, immigration increased and Congress passed welfare reform legislation that required many more Americans to join the workforce. Legislators have looked closely at federal job training programs in recent years, and in 1998 passed the two major acts mandating change. In Improving the Odds, experts on labor policy explore the effects of current programs on earnings and employment, recommend improvements in programs, and assess the methodologies used to measure their effectiveness. The editors offer several strategies to help policymakers design programs that fulfill the promise of keeping workers out of poverty.