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Do job centers help unemployed people to find and keep jobs? Using the results of a unique survey by the Japanese government, this note examines the employment success of job center clients. Success in finding and keeping jobs varies systematically across distinct subgroups. Moreover, job center clients were not particularly successful in finding work that fit their qualifications. (JEL J60, J68, J40), I. INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW Economic restructuring means workers are displaced from jobs. Likewise, recession makes workers redundant. To soften the blow of job loss, policy makers often advocate active labor [...]

The purpose of this research was to examine the impact of innovative training for public welfare workers on training outcomes, as well as the individual and organizational mediators of these outcomes. This study surveyed 623 public welfare workers on training satisfaction, knowledge, transfer, individual variables such as personality and learning readiness, and organizational variables such as team and supervisor support of learning. Results indicate that public welfare workers experienced a significant increase of knowledge from pre- to post-training, reaching a mastery level of knowledge. Personality and organizational support of learning were related to training satisfaction, while personality and learning readiness were related to self-reported training transfer. Given the ever-changing policy and practice context of public welfare, training is an essential organizational strategy to promote best practice. KEYWORDS public welfare, public welfare employees, training evaluation, training outcomes

An examination is presented of the design features of formal mentoring programs and perceived program effectiveness from both mentor and protege perspectives. Results help begin to bridge the gap between science and practice concerning the design of formal mentoring programs.

This article reports the results of a collaborative effort by a state rehabilitation agency and a university to upgrade practice-specific knowledge of vocational evaluators. A 100 item multi-choice examination was developed based on the knowledge domains found in Commission on Certification of Work Adjustment and Vocational Evaluation Specialists (CCWAVES) credentialing examination. The present examination was administered to 23 vocational evaluators in public sector rehabilitation in Tennessee. Results were analyzed and individual training plans developed and implemented over a one-year period. A second examination was administered at the end of one year to estimate the effectiveness of training. An improvement in knowledge about vocational evaluation was found at some level for all participants. Outcomes and suggestions for duplicating upgrade training are discussed., The need for practitioners in rehabilitation services to stay current in knowledge and skills of their respective crafts fields has been and continues to be advocated by researchers and educators. [...]

A study examines possible reaction to work restructuring in terms of job performance, attendance at training, and voicing of discontent. The effects of work restructuring and background characteristics with reference to the exit-voice-loyalty model and demoralization theory are estimated.

Byline: Mark A. Davis (1), Mary B. Curtis (2), Jeffrey D. Tschetter (3) Keywords: structural knowledge; declarative knowledge; training evaluation Abstract: Conventional approaches to evaluating cognitive outcomes of training typically use paper-and-pencil tests that emphasize gains or differences in declarative knowledge. Yet a key factor in differentiating expert and novice performance is the way individuals organize their knowledge. Accordingly, the acquisition of meaningful knowledge structures and methods of assessing structural knowledge are potentially important issues for designing and evaluating training programs. Two studies were conducted to examine the validity and utility of one structural assessment technique called Pathfinder (Schvaneveldt, Durso, &amp Dearholt, 1989). Results from academic and organizational samples indicated that Pathfinder measures of structural knowledge quality predicted individual differences in performance self-efficacy. After controlling for differences in declarative knowledge, measures of structural knowledge quality added to the prediction of performance self-efficacy in the student sample, but not in the organizational sample. The unique features and potential advantages of structural assessment for training evaluation are discussed. Author Affiliation: (1) Department of Management, College of Business Administration, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, 76203 (2) University of North Texas, USA (3) University of Sioux Falls, USA Article History: Registration Date: 05/10/2004

The author examines the the inner connecting links between social economic policy, welfare and government work programs and non-profit service organizations.

Vocationally trained job seekers are studied to determine whether their training was effective. In the Norwegian program studied, training can improve outcomes by six percentage points. The job seekers who were less likely to enter vocational training programs show the lowest positive effects of their training.

New 'welfare-to-work' programs increasingly provide clients with short-term, communication-intensive job training rather than financial assistance. Program administrators apparently believe that communication training is a useful tool for increasing client employment rates and reducing welfare dependence. This longitudinal study examined the success of a communication-intensive job training program serving 101 largely indigent clients in an urban area. The communication characteristics of successful clients and the effects of the training on measures of communication competence were evaluated. About 40% of clients obtained full- or part-time employment. Clients who obtained fulltime employment entered the program with higher scores on two dimensions of the Conversational Skills Rating Scale (CSRS), articulated more specific plans for employment interviews, and reported receiving more social support from members of their households. The training resulted in significant pre- to post-test improvements on all four dimensions of the CSRS and four measures of communicative planning (for employment interviews). Results indicate that communication skill is a significant factor in predicting client outcomes. We conclude by suggesting several program improvements, including focusing on system-level communication factors, providing long-term social support, and increasing emphasis on post-employment communication processes.

This work introduces a new training program performance assessment methodology for engineering organizations that is based upon needs assessment, types of training, and training effectiveness measures. The methodology checks whether predefined objectives of a company are identified through a needs assessment. Effectiveness is judged on whether the types of training and coursework content are formulated to fulfill the needs assessment objectives, whether the coursework is available to the proper employees, whether the courses are attended and understood by the employees, and whether the coursework content is utilized in the work place to meet the needs assessment objectives of the company. A case study of three training programs conducted within a public sector engineering organization is included to demonstrate the methodology and evaluate both the three programs and the methodology effectiveness. Conclusions suggest improvements to future training programs for the public sector engineering organization, as well as describe potential enhancements to the effectiveness measures of the methodology that can be recognized through further study of existing training programs.

Does specialized training in the treatment of anxiety disorders have an impact on clinical outcome and efficiency? The authors compared specialists in the cognitive-behavioral treatment of anxiety disorders with nonspecialists. The specialist group saw patients for a shorter average period of time (6.37 vs. 8.44) and reported less anxiety in their patients at termination. Patients were followed for 2 years to determine relapse rates. Only 19% of the patients treated by specialist returned for treatment, whereas 40% of those treated by nonspecialists did. Therapists who used cognitive-behavioral techniques were more effective than other clinicians in the treatment of anxiety disorders.

This article compares Germany's vocational education and training-based system and the United States' school-based system. Topics include the benefits of apprenticeship programs and the role of educational systems in producing socially responsible contributors to the national economy.

This paper considers whether it is possible to devise a nonexperimental procedure for evaluating a prototypical job training programme. Using rich nonexperimental data, we examine the performance of a two-stage evaluation methodology that (a) estimates the probability that a person participates in a programme and (b) uses the estimated probability in extensions of the classical method of matching. We decompose the conventional measure of programme evaluation bias into several components and find that bias due to selection on unobservables, commonly called selection bias in econometrics, is empirically less important than other components, although it is still a sizeable fraction of the estimated programme impact. Matching methods applied to comparison groups located in the same labour markets as participants and administered the same questionnaire eliminate much of the bias as conventionally measured, but the remaining bias is a considerable fraction of experimentally-determined programme impact estimates. We test and reject the identifying assumptions that justify the classical method of matching. We present a nonparametric conditional difference-in-differences extension of the method of matching that is consistent with the classical index-sufficient sample selection model and is not rejected by our tests of identifying assumptions. This estimator is effective in eliminating bias, especially when it is due to temporally-invariant omitted variables.

This paper decomposes the conventional measure of selection bias in observational studies into three components. The first two components are due to differences in the distributions of characteristics between participant and nonparticipant (comparison) group members: the first arises from differences in the supports, and the second from differences in densities over the region of common support. The third component arises from selection bias precisely defined. Using data from a recent social experiment, we find that the component due to selection bias, precisely defined, is smaller than the first two components. However, selection bias still represents a substantial fraction of the experimental impact estimate. The empirical performance of matching methods of program evaluation is also examined. We find that matching based on the propensity score eliminates some but not all of the measured selection bias, with the remaining bias still a substantial fraction of the estimated impact. We find that the support of the distribution of propensity scores for the comparison group is typically only a small portion of the support for the participant group. For values outside the common support, it is impossible to reliably estimate the effect of program participation using matching methods. If the impact of participation depends on the propensity score, as we find in our data, the failure of the common support condition severely limits matching compared with random assignment as an evaluation estimator.

This article examines whether retraining helps dislocated or displaced workers find new jobs or receive comparable pay. Dislocated or displaced workers are experienced workers who are dismissed due to work-site closings or significant downsizings. The authors compare dislocated workers who received retraining to dislocated workers who did not receive retraining. They find that retraining fails to improve the probability that workers win get new jobs, get full-time jobs, get higher pay, receive decent benefits, experience acceptable working conditions, have reasonable commute times, or get new jobs with a future, that is, with reasonable security in continued employment.

States have confronted both opportunities and challenges as they implement the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS) program, a federally mandated welfare employment program that provides education, training, and employment services to recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children. Drawing on findings from a 10-state, three-year study on JOBS implementation, this article highlights issues in funding, service availability, child care services, and mandated participation. The authors suggest full implementation of the Family Support Act of 1988 and the expansion of other income supports for low-income families rather than the development of time-limited welfare benefits and mandated employment in the private sector or the government. Key words: child care; funding; Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training program; participation; service availability, On October 13, 1988, President Reagan signed the Family Support Act (P.L. 100-485) into law at a ceremony in the White House rose garden. In his remarks, the president portrayed [...]

The Clinton administration has made job training a major priority. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich has already presented a bold program for skill enhancement drawing on a new consensus in [...]

In recent years, providing uniform steward training has emerged as an important challenge for building and construction trades unions. The two largest B&CT unions, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers [...]

This study included 2 sets of analyses examining the impact of task experience and individual factors on task ratings of training emphasis. Aerospace ground equipment mechanics in the U.S. Air Force completed surveys 8 months and 12 months after formal training. Mechanics rated how much formal training they would recommend for a sample of tasks. In the cross-sectional analyses, with tenure constant at 12 months, an individual's breadth of experience (number of tasks performed) and level of self-efficacy were found to have significant effects on training-emphasis ratings. The change analyses examined factors influencing changes in ratings of training emphasis from 8 to 12 months on the job. Results indicated that mechanics whose breadth of experience or self-efficacy perceptions increased over time tended to increase their ratings of training emphasis. Implications for understanding the task analysis rating process are discussed. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Before urban educators can teach genuine work values to their students, Mr. Haberman argues, they must first stop reinforcing the anti-work values that currently pervade urban schools. For many urban [...]

China's fast-changing economy and Communist Party decrees are promoting vocational education. One of the questions raised is, Should rural students be taught skills relevant to their present or future? When [...]