Table Of ContentJobs and Training in the 1980s
BOSTON STUDIES
IN
APPLIED ECONOMICS
General Editors:
PETER B. DOERINGER, Boston University
GUSTAV F. PAPANEK, Boston University
SERIES ON
LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT
Editorial Board:
PETER B. DOERINGER, Boston University
JOHN T. DUNLOP, Harvard University
MICHAEL J. PIORE, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
JOBS AND TRAINING
IN THE 1980s
Vocational Policy and the Labor Market
EDITED BY
PETER B. DOERINGER
BRUCE VERMEULEN
MARTINUS NIJHOFF PUBLISHING
BOSTON /THE HAGUE/LONDON
DISTRIBUTORS FOR NORTH AMERICA:
Martinus Nijhoff Publishing
K1uwer Boston, Inc.
190 Old Derby Street
Hingham, Massachusetts 02043, U.S.A.
DISTRIBUTORS OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA:
K1uwer Academic Publishers Group
Distribution Centre
P.O. Box 322
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Jobs and training in the eighties.
(Boston studies in applied economics; 2)
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Vocational education - United States - Ad
dresses, essays, lectures. 2. Occupational
training - United States - Addresses, essays, lectures.
I. Doeringer, Peter B. II. Vermeulen, Bruce.
III. Series.
LCI045.J55 370.11'3'0973 80-28370
ISBN-13: 978-94-009-8161-4 e-ISBN-I3: 978-94-009-8159-1
DOl: 10.1 007/978-94-009-8159-1
Chapter 6, "Vocational Education and the Work Establishment of Youth," by Sue E. Berry
man, was originally published by the Aspen Systems Corporation of Germantown, Md., under
a contract with the Rand Corporation. This writing is in the public domain. It is reprinted with
the cooperation of the Rand Corporation.
Copyright © 1981 by Martinus Nijhoff Publishing
Softcover reprint of the hardcover I st edition 1981
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
other means without written permission from the publisher.
CONTENTS
Foreword by Francis Keppel vii
1 OCCUPATIONAL EDUCATION AND
TRAINING FOR THE 1980s
Peter B. Doeringer
2 THE NONSYSTEM OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Wellford W. Wilms 19
3 OCCUPATIONAL EDUCATION AND
TRAINING: GOALS AND PERFORMANCE
Patricia Flynn Pannell 50
4 THE IMPACT OF WORKPLACE PRACTICES
ON EDUCATION AND TRAINING POLICY
Bruce Vermeulen and Susan Hudson-Wilson 72
5 CAREER PATHS AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
Donna E. Olszewski 88
v
vi CONTENTS
6 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND THE
WORK ESTABLISHMENT OF YOUTH
Sue E. Berryman 118
7 LABOR MARKET PROJECTIONS FOR
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Susan Hudson-Wilson 158
8 ACCELERATING THE TRANSITION
FROM SCHOOLS TO CAREERS
Bruce Vermeulen 173
About the Contributors 205
FOREWORD
In February 1979, I wrote to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation seeking sup
port for the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies to embark on a policy
oriented program in vocational education. The reason for the request,
which was generously granted by the foundation, was stated as follows:
The federal program on vocational education dates from World War I. Impor
tant changes were made in later legislation in 1963 and 1976, affecting the pro
grams conducted by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. The
recently enacted Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) of the
Department of Labor has brought large federal support to efforts to reduce
unemployment, especially for youth, by providing preparatory training. It may
be an understatement to report that the programs of these two government
departments have lacked adequate coordination in Washington or in the field.
Certainly there is a long way to go in improving both policy and program, and an
opportunity presents itself in preparing the policies to be proposed to the Con
gress when the vocational education program next comes up for reconsideration
in 1980 and 1981.
Responsibility for preparing the administration's position and recom
mendations lies with the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
of HEW, Michael O'Keefe. His office is prepared to finance the studies that
should be prepared as the basis for a workshop in Aspen (of which more later) in
vii
viii FOREWORD
the hope that Aspen can bring together a broadly representative group to consider
the various possibilities for policy and programs, and to make recommendations.
We turned to Professor Peter B. Doeringer of Boston University for
leadership in planning and directing the studies that form the majority of
the chapters of this book. Professor Wellford W. Wilms of the University
of California prepared a study dealing particularly with issues within the
field of vocational education itself, and he and all the other authors took
part in the Aspen discussions. The Department of Health, Education and
Welfare supported the studies printed here, and the Sloan Foundation sup
ported the workshop at Aspen in 1979. The Aspen Institute is deeply
grateful to them and to the authors of these papers.
They are being published, we hope, at a time when they can be of max
imum use to the governmental and educational leaders who will be respon
sible for changes in present legislation and programs.
FRANCIS KEPPEL
Senior Fellow
Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies
Jobs and Training in the 1980s
1
OCCUPATIONAL EDUCATION
AND TRAINING FOR THE 19805
Peter B. Doeringer
The essays in this volume provide a comprehensive review of the system of
occupational training and education in the United States, its performance,
and the labor market environment in which it operates. It is addressed to a
number of audiences. For educators the significance of the labor market as
it affects schools is highlighted. For social scientists the importance of dif
ferent disciplinary perspectives in assessing educational performance is
demonstrated. For policymakers and planners these essays document the
persistent shortcomings of this system, identify new developments within
the system, and help to pinpoint the key links to jobs that need to be forged
if overall performance is to be improved.
The 1980s will be a decade of change in the training and education sys
tem. The flood of youth into the schools and into the labor market will have
receded. The job structure of the economy will be adapting to the impacts
of inflation and recession. Federally funded vocational education programs
will receive a complete congressional review, and the CET A program is
likely to evolve in new directions. It is hoped that these essays will con
tribute to the policy debate that will inevitably accompany such change.
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