America's Choice: High Skills or Low Wages: The Report of the Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce

1 ED 323 297 TITLE INSTITUTION REPORT NO PUB DATE NOTE AVAILABLE FROM PUB TYPE EDRS PRICE DESCRIPTORS DOCUMENT RESUME CE 055 312 America's Choice: High Skills or Low Wages! The Report of the Commission on the Skills of the American Wr,Kforce. National Center on Education and the Economy, Rochester, NY. ISBN-0-9627063-0-2 Jun 90 209p. publications Order Selvice, National Center on Education and the Economy, P.O. Box 10670, Rochester, NY 14610 ($18.00; 10 or more: $15.00 each). Reports Research/Technical (143) mFo1/Pco9 Plus Postage. Certification; Competitioo; *Corporate Education; Education Work Relationship; *Employment Qualifications; *Entry Workers; Job Development; *Labor Force Development; Organizational Development; *Productivity; *School Business Relationship; Standards; Transitional Programs IDENTIFIERS *Certificate of Initial Mastery ABSTRACT Work force growth will slow dramatically in the 1990s. To ensure a more prosperous future, productivity and competitive position must be improvec. New high performance forms of work organization operate very differently from the system of mass manufacturing. These work organizaticms require large investments in training. The approach to work and edlcation must fundamentally change. Recommendations include the following: (1) a new educational performance standard should be set for all students, to be met by age 16, with the standard established nationally and benchmarked to the highest in the world; (2) states should take the responsibility for assuring that virtually all students achieve the Certificate of Initial Mastery (CIM), with new local Employment and Training Boards creating and funding alternative learning environments for those who cannot attain the CIM in regular schools; (3) a comprehensive system of Technical and Professional Certificates and associate's degrees should be created for the majority of students and adult workers who do not pursue a baccalaureate degree; (4) all employers should be given incentives and assistance to invest in the further education and training of their workers and to pursue high productivity forms of work organization; and (5) a system of Employment and Training Boards should be established by federal and state governments, together with local leadership, to organize and oversee the new school-to-work transition programs and training systems. (CML) * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * from the original document. r A Meas. low°Tvages! The Report of The Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce June 1990 NATIONAL CENTER ON EDUCATION AND THE ECONVMY 01,11ipyright © 1990 by the National Center on Education and the Fconomy ISBN 0-9627063-0-2 All rights reserved. Brief quotations from this report may be reproduced without restriction, provided that acknowledgement is given as follows. This Report was prepared by the National Center on Education and the Economy's Commission on the Skills qf tbe American Workforce. Larger portions of this publicatkm may not be reproduced without permission of the National Center on Education and the Economy. An order form for this report, its supporting works and additional reports and papers available from the National Center on Education and the Economy can be found at the end 5 The National Center on Education and tbe Economy The National Center on Education and the Economy is a not-for-profit organization created to develop proposals for building the world class education and training system that the United States must have if it is to have a world class economy. The Center engages in policy analysis and development and works collaboratively with others at local, state and national levels to advance its proposals in the policy arena. National Center on Education and the Economy 39 State Street Suite 500 Rochester, New York 14614 716/546-7620 FAX: 716/546-3145 iii 6 COMMISSION ON THE SKILLS OF THE AMERICAN WORKFORCE Ira C. Magaziner, Chair President SJS, Inc. William E. Brock, Co-Chair Senior Partner The Brock Group Former Secretary U.S. Department of Labor Ray Mare-all, Co-C'hair Chair in Economics and Public Affairs L.B.J. School of Public Affairs University of Texas at Austin Former Secretary U.S. Department of Labor Robert M. Atkinson Director of Academic Programs School of Business and Industry Florida A & M University Owen Bieber President United Automobile Workers Edward J. Cariough General President Sheet Metal Workers' International Association Aathony P. Carnevale Vice President of National Affairs and Chief Economist American Society for Training and Development Paul J. Choquette, Jr. President and Chief Executive Officer Gilbane Building Company V Richard Cohon President C. N. Burman Company Badi G. Foster President AEtna Institute for Corporate Education Thomas Gonzales Chancellor Seattle Community College District VI Rear Admiral W. J. Holland, Jr., USN (Retired) Presictent Educational Foundation Armed Forces Communications and Education Association James R. Houghtor_ Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer Coming Incorporated James B. Hunt, Jr. Partner Poyner & Spruill Former Governor State of North Carolina John R. Hurley Vice Prtysident and Director Corporate Training and Educational Resources The Chase Manhattan Bank John E. Jacob President and Chief Executive Officer National Urban League, Inc. The Commission Thomas H. Kean President Drew University Former Governor State of New Jersey William H. Kolberg President National Alliance of Business William Lucy International Secretary/Treasurei American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO Margaret LA. Mac Vicar Dean for Undergraduate Education and Professor Massachusetts Institute of Technology Eleanor Holmes Norton Professor of Law Georgetown University Law Center Former Chairwoman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Karen Nussbaum Executive Director 9to5, National Association of Working Women Peter). Pesti llo Vice President Corporate Relations and Diversified Businesses Ford Motor Company Philip H. Power Chairman Si iburban Communications Corporation Lauren B. Resnick Director Learning Research and Development Center University of Pittsburgh Mt Commission 8 Kje ll-Jon Rye Teacher Bellevue (WA) Public Schools Howard D. Samuel President Industrial Union Department AFL-CIO John Sculley Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Apple Computer, Inc. William). Spring Vice President District Community Affairs Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Anthony). Trujillo Superintendent Sweetwater Union (CA) High School District Marc S. Tucker President National Center ori Education and the Economy Laura D'Andrea Tyson Director of Research Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy University of California at Berkeley Kay R. Whitmore Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer Eastman Kodak Company Alan L Wurtzel Chairman of the Boa id Circuit City Stores, Inc. vi Signatories Ira C. Magaziner, Chair William E. Brock, Co-Chair Ray Marshall, Co-Chair Robert NI. Atkinson Edward J. Carlough 67a-ft 0,-..y.,14 Paul .1 Choquette. Jr grglA Bach G Foster Owen Bieber Anthony P. Carnevale '7:a.....t a I Richard Cohon c):~11 Thomas gonzaks 9 Signalorm W. J. Holland, Jr. James R. Houghton 9-1447 i41w e James B. Hunt, Jr. John R. Hurley John E. Jacob lid William H. Kolberg Margaret L. A. MacVicar eLAIN1/4-°' Karen Nussbaum Philip H. Power Ssgnatorses 1 0 Thomas H. Kean 4,41111011. Eleanor Holmes Norton dogrito Peter J. Pestillo Lauren B. Resnick viii Kiel lion Rye John Sculley 7----ze Howard D. Samuel aide:~ +4(411-) William J. Spring 01 c,./ikeiruo---7'rov% Anthony J. Trujillo Laura D'Andrea Tyson Marc S. Tucker 4 gr. Alan L. Wurtzel P ix Kay R. Whitmore 11 Signatories TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary Preface The Report Chapter 1: The Problem Chapter 2: Is There A Skills Shortage? Chapter 3: America's Workers: Disposable Resource Or Competitive Advantage? Chapter 4: The Organization Of Work In America Chapter 5: How We Prepare Our Children For Work Chapter 6: The Education And Training Of America's Adult Workers Chapter 7: Voices From Abroad Chapter 8: The Choice Chapter 9: .The Foundation Skills Chapter 10: Universal Mastery Of The Foundation Skills Chapter 11: Technical And Professional Education Chapter 12: Lifelong Learning And High Performance Work Organizations Chapter 13: And A System To Pull It Together Chapter 14: In Conclusion XI 1 The Study 13 Supporting Information 19 I. A New American Assessment 19 For Foundation Skills 23 31 95 99 99 II. Alternative Programs For At-Risk 105 Youth: Sweetwater Union High School, The Boston Compact And The Wegman's Program III. American Examples Of Successful 109 37 Worker Training IV. Skills Investment Taxes: Foreign 115 43 Examples V. Financing Our Proposals 119 Acknowledgments 129 Appendices 133 National Center on Education 133 and the Economy Board of Trustees Commission on the Skills of the 135 American Workforce 77 Biographical Sketches Commission on the Skills of the 145 American Workforce Associates Commission on the Skills of the 146 American Workforce Case Study Research Team and Staff Publications Order Form 49 57 67 69 71 81 87 91 149 ,* tie. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Problem Since 1969, real average weekly earnings in the United States have fallen by more than 12 percent. This burden has been shared unequally. The incomes of our top 30 percent of earners increased while those of the other 70 percent spiraled downward. In many families, it now takes two people working to make ends meet, where one was sufficient in the past. The United States is in the midst of the second longest economic expansion in its history. But that expansion is built largely on the fact that 50 percent of our population is employed compared with 40 percent in 1973. Forty million new i,obs were created as the 'baby boom' generation reached working age, and more women entered the workforce. More of us have been working so we produced more. However. workforce growth will skriv dramatically in the 1990s. We can no longer grow substantially just by adding new workers. The key to maintaining, to say nothing of improving, our standard of living is productivity growth more products and services from every member of the workforce. i But, during the past two decades, our productivity growth has slowed to a crawl. It now takes nearly three years to achieve the same productivity improvement we used to achieve in one year. If productivity continues to falter, we can expect one of two futures. Either the top 30 percent of our population will grow wealthier while the bottom 70 percent becomes progressively poorer or we all slide into relative poverty together. The Task To ensure a more prosperous future, we must improve productivity and our competitive position. We cannot simply do this by using better machinery, because low wage countries can now use the same machines and can still sell their products more cheaply than we can. The key to productivity improvement for a high wage nation lies in the third industrial revolution now taking place in the world. The steam engine and electric motor drove the first two industrial revolutions, causing profound changes in work organization. This boosted productivity, quality and living standards dramatically. The creation of the modem factory in the 1800's and mass production in the 1900's followed these technology breakthroughs. Executive Su mmaty The advent of the computer, high speed communication and universal education are heralding a third industrial revolution, a revolution the key feature of which is high performance work organization. The Organization Of Work In America The organization of America's workplaces today is largely modeled after the system of mass manufacture pioneered dunng the early 1900's. The premise is simple: Break complex jobs into a myriad of simple rote task.. which the worker then repeats with machine-like efficiency. The system is managed by a small group of educated planners and supervisors who do the thinking for the organization. They plan strategy, implement changes, motivate the workers and solve problems. Extensive administrative procedures allow managers to keep control of a large number of workers. This form of work organization is often referred to as the *Taylor' model. Most employees under this model need not be educated. It is far more important that they be reliable, steady and willing to follow directions. But in the world's best companies, new I- 'An performance work organizations are replacing this 'Taylor' method. These companies are using a new approach to I Executim Summar 5 unleash malor advances in productivity, quality, variety and speed of new product introductions. Mass production methods will continue to produce high volume, inexpensive goods and services for a long time to come. But what the world is prepared to pay high prices and high wages for now is quality, variety and responsiveness to changing consumer tastes, the very qualities that the new methods of organizing work make possible. 'Tayloristic' methods are not well suited to these goals. Firms struggling to apply the traditional methods of work organization to more complex technologies, more frequent product introductions, increased quality requiremems and proliferating product variety often create cumbersome and inefficient bureaccracies. The new high performance forms of work organization operate very differently. Rather than increasing bureaucracy,_ they reduce h by giving front-line workers more responsibility. Workers are asked to use judgment and make decisions. Management layers disappear as front-line workers assume responsibility for many of the tasks from quality control to production scheduling that others used to do. 2 Work organizations like these require large investments in training. Workers' pay :t-vels often rise to reflect their greater qualifications and responsibilities. But the productivity and quality gains more than offset the costs to the company of higher wages and skills development. Despite these advantages, 95 percent of American companies still cling to old forms of work organization. Is There A Skills Shortage In The United States? Because most American employers organize work in a way that does not require high skills, they report no shortage of people who have such skills and foresee no such shortage. With some exceptions. the education and skill levels of American workers roughly match the demands of their jobs. Our research did reveal a wide range of concerns covered under the blanket term of 'skills.' While businesses everywhere complained al)out the quality of their applicants, few talked about the kinds of skills acquired in school. The primary concern of more than 80 percent of employers was finding workers with a good work ethic and appropriate social behavior: 'reliable,' 'a good attitude. 'a pleasant appearance,' 'a good personality.' Most employers we interviewed do not expect their skill requirements to change. Despite the widespread presumption that advancing technology and the evolving 3 service economy will create jobs demanding higher skills, only five percent of employers were concerned about a skills shortage. These were mainly large manufacturers, financial service organizations and communications companies. The reason we have no skills shortage today is that we are using a turn-of-thecentury work organization. If we want to compete more effectively in the global economy, we will have to move to a high productivity work organization. How We Prepare Our Front-Line Workers For Work More than 70 percent of the jobs in America will not require a college education by the year 2000. These jobs are the backbone of our economy, and the productivity of workers in these jobs will make or break our economic future. No nation has produced a highly qualified technical workforce without first providing its workers with a strong general education. But our children rank at the l)ottom on most international tests behind children in Europe and East Asia, even behind children in some newly industrialized countries. More than any other country in the world, the United States believes that natural ability, rather than effort, explains achievement. The tragedy is that we communicate 1 6 Executive Summary to millions of students every year, especially to low-income and minority students, that we do not believe that they have what it takes to learn. They then live up to our expectations, despite the evidence that they can r2.eet vety high performance standards under the right conditions. Unlike virtually all of our leading competitors, we have no national system capable of setting high academic standards for the non-college bound or of assessing their achievement against those standards. America may have the worst school-towork transition system of any advanced industrial country. Students who know few adults to help them get their first job are left to sink or swim. Only eight percent of our front-line workers receive any formal training once on the job, and this is usually limited to orientation for new hires or short courses on team building or safety. The American post-secondary education and training ,:ystem was never designed to meet the needs of our front-line workers. The system is a combination of education programs for full-time college students and short term training for the severely disadvantaged. and can be difficult to access. Because employers have not set training standards, few studeli's can be sure that there is a market for the courses they pursue. Education is rarely connected to training and both are rarely connected to an effective job service function. Ewc Mill! Summary 1 7 Anotfier Way While the foreign nations we studied differ in economy and culture, they share an approach to the education and training of their workers and to high productivity work organiration. They insist that virtually all of their students reach a high educational standard. We do not. They provide 'professionalized' education to non-college bound students to prepare them for their trades and to ease their school-to-work transition. We do not. They operate comprehensive labor market systems which combine training, labor market information, job search and income maintenance for the unemployed. We do not. They support company based training through general revenue or payroll tax based financing schemes. We do not. They have national consensus on the importance of moving to high productivity forms of work organization and building high wage economies. We do not. Our approaches have served us well in the past. They will not serve us well in the future. 4 The Choke Americans are unwittingly making a choice. kis a choice that most of us would probably not make were we aware of its consequences. Yet every day, that choice is becoming more difficult to reverse. It is a choice which undermines the American dream of economic opportunity for all. It is a choice that will lead to an America where 30 percent of our people may do well at least for awhile but the other 70 percent will see their dreams slip away. The choice that America faces is a choice between high skills and low wages. Gradually, silently, we are choosing low wages. We still have time to make the other choice one that will lead us to a more prosperous future. To make this choice, we must fundamentally change our approach to work and education. 1. Problem: Two factors stand in the way of producing a highly educated workforce: We lack a clear standard of achievement and few students are motivated to work hard in school. One reason that students going right to work after school have little motivation to study hard is that they see little or no relationship between how well they do in school and what kind of job they can get after school. Other advanced industrial nations have stringent prformance standards that virtually all students must meet at about age 16 and that directly affect their employment prospects. 5 Recommendation: A new educational perfbrinance standard should be set for students, to be met by ate 16 This standard shoals, be estabashed nationally and bespcbmarbed to tbe bftbest the world. We propose that all American students meet a national standard of educational excellence by age 16, or soon thereafter. Students passing a series of performance based assessments that incorporate the standaid would be awarded a Certificate of Initial Mastery. ' Possession of the Certificate of Initial Mastery would qualify the student to choose among going to work, entering a college preparatory progranl or studying for a Technical and Professional Certificate, described below. Creation of the Certificate of Initial Mastery standard would require a new approach to student performance assessment. We recommend the creation of new performance based examinations for which students can explicitly prepare. The assessment system would provide multiple opportunities for success rather than a single high stakes moment of possible failure. Most important, the examination, though set at a very high standard, is not intended as a sorting mechanism on the pattern of virtually all the major tests now in use. Our goal is to 1 8 Evecullve Summary set a tough standard that almost everyone will reach, although not all at the same time. Once created, this system would establish objective standards for students and eiucators, motivate students and give employers an objective means to evaluate the accomplishments of students. 2. Probleim More than 20 percent of our students drop out of high school almost 50 percent in many of our inner cities. Thtse dropouts go on to make up more than one third of our front-line workforce. Turning our backs on those dropouts, as we do now, is tantamount to turning our backs on our future workforce. Recommendation: Tbe states should take responsibility for assaring that virtually all students achieve tbe Certificate of hoitial Mastery. Through tbe new local Employment and Training Boards, states, with federal assistance, should create and fund akernative learning enviromnents for tbose wbo cannot attain the Certificate of initial Mastery in regular schools. All student; should be guaranteed the educational attention necessary to attain the Certificate of Initial Mastery by age 16, or as soon as possible thereafter. Youth Centers shoukl be established to enroll school dropouts and help them reach that standard. 9 Federal, state and local funds should be raised oi reallocated to finance these dropout recovery programs. Once the Youth Centers are created, children should not be permitted to work before the age of 18 unless they have attained the Certificate of Intal Mastery or are enrolled in a program to attain it. 3. Probkm: Other industrial nations have multi-year career-oriented educational programs that prepare students to operate at a professional level in the workplace. Graduates of these programs have the skills to hit the ground running whcn they get their first full-time job at age 19 or 20. America prepares only a tiny fraction of its non-college bound students for work. As a result, most flounder in the labor market, moving from low paying job to low paying job until their mid-twenties, never being seriously trained. Recommendation: A comprehensive system of Technical andivrofess-WWit Certificates and associate's degtees should be created for tbe majority of our students and adult workers wbo do not pursue a baccalaureate degree. Technical and Professional Certificates would be offered across the entire range of service and manufacturing occupations. A student could earn the entry-level occupation specific certificate after completing a two- to four-year program of combined work and Eveciiniv Sit tummy 6 study, depending upon the field. A sequence of advanced certificates, attesting to mastery of more complex skills, would be available and could be obtained throughout one's career. The Secretary of Labor should convene national committees of business, labor, education and public representatives to define certification standards for two- to four-year programs of professional preparation in a broad range of occupations. These programs should combine general education with specific occupational skills and should indude a significant work mponent. Students could pursue these programs at a wide variety of institutions accredited to offer them, including high schools, community colleges and proprietary schools. The system should lx designed to make it possible for students to move easily between the Certificate programs and college. A means should be established to ensure that all students can receive financing to pursue these programs. 4. Problem: The vast majority of American employers are not moving to high performance work organizations, nor are they investing to triin their non-managerial employees for these new work organizations. The movement to high performance work organizations is more widespread in other nations, and training of front-line workers, funded in pan by national assessments on employers or general public revenues, is commonplace.- Recommendationt Al entployers should be Ono goottetres and assistottat to invest hi the ftwthor oikocation and training q f tbotr workers and to pontoe bigb productivity Arms qf work orgassi- =Hos We piopose a system whereby all employers will invest at least one percent of their payroll for the education and training of their workers. Those who do not wish to participate would contribute the one percent to a general training fund, to be used by states to upgrade worker skills. We further recommend that public technical assistance be provided to companies, particularly small businesses, to assist them in moving to higher performance work organizations. 5. Problem: The United States is not well organized to provide the highly skilkd workers needed to support the emerging high performance work organizations. Public policy on worker training has been largely passive, except for the needs of a small portion of the severely disadvantaged population. The training system is fragmented with respect to policies, administration and service delivery. Evearrive Summary. Recommendation: A system of Employment anti &Make Boards Mould be estadoNsiarAby ~era/ and-itatiegnithirit-: meats, twitter witb local leadersbip, to organise and oversee tbe new scbookowork trattsition program and training systems see Ce A, We envision a new, more comprehensive system where skills development and upgrading for the majority of our workers becomes a central aim of public policy. The key to accomplishing these goals is finding a way to enable the leaders of our communities to take responsibility for building a comprehensive system that meets their needs. The local Employment and Training Boards for each major labor market would: Take responsibility for the school-to-work and Youth Center-to-work transition for young people. Manage and oversee the Youth Centers. Manage and oversee a 'second chance' system for adults seeking the Certifi( ate of Initial Mastery. Manage and oversee the system for awarding Technical and Professional Certificates at the local level. Manage a labor market information system. Manage and oversee the job service. Coordinate existing programs. Kva nave Su nunwy 21 The states would need to create a parallel structure to support tbel9citl,Upgr4, kiieWkielUriCtions and establish state standards for their operation. In Conclusion America is headed toward an economic cliff. We will no fdriger be-able tn,put,atigbeK,, proportion of our people to work to generate economic growth. If basic changes are not made, real wages will continue to fall, especially for the majority who do not graduate from four-year colleges. The gap between economic 'haves' and 'have nots' will widen still further and social tensions will deepen. Our recommendations provide an alternative for America. We do not pretend that this vision will he easily accepted or quickly implemented. But we also cannot pretend that the status quo is an option. It is no longer possible to be a high wage, low skill nation. We have choices to make: Do we continue to define educational success as 'time in the seat,' or choose a new system that focuses on the demonstrated achievement of high standards? Do we continue to provide little incentive for non-college bound students to study hard and take tough subjects, or choose a system that will reward real effort with better pay and better jobs? 8 Do we continue to turn our backs on America's school dropouts, or choose to take responsibility for educating them? Do we continue to provide unskilled workers for unskilled jobs. or train sl" xl workers and give companies incentivLs to deploy them in high performance work Organizations? Do we continue in most companies to limit training to a select handful of managers and profesionals. or choose to provide training to front-hne workers as well? Do we cling to a public employment and training system fragmented by institutional harriers, muddled by overlapping bureaucracies and operating at the margins of the labor markt,. or do we choose a unified system that addresses itself to a maiority of workers? Do we continue to remain indifferent to the low wage path being chosen by many companies, or do we provide incentives for high productivity choices? Taken tc)gether. the Commission's recommendations provide the framework for developing a high quality American education am. training system, closely linked to high performance work organimtions. The system we propose provides a uniquely American solution. Boldly executed, it has the potential not simply to put us on an 9 equal footing with our competitors, but to allow us to leap ahead, to build the world's premier work te. In so doing, we will create a form.. ie competitive advantage. The status quo is not an'option. The choice we have is to become a nation of high sk;lls or one of low wages. The choice is ours. It should be clear. It must be made. 22 Executive Summary PREFACE The three of us who chair this Commission have grown increasingly uneasy as we have watched Singapore. Taiwan and Korea grow from run-down Third World outposts to world premier exporters; as Germany, with one quarter of our population, almost equaled us in exports; as Japan became the world's economic juggernaut; and, as America became the world's biggest borrower. As all this happened, we heard the excuses: The countries we beat in the Second World War are simply regaining their former place in the world. The Europeans and the Japanese are exploiting their low wages. Our competitors are class-ridden countries. The truth is otherwise: Our former adversaries are doing far better n relation to us than they did before the war. A dozen nations now pay wages above ours. Our distribution of income is more skewed than any of our major competitors and our poverty rate is much higher. Our education statistics are as disappointing as our trade statistics. Our children rank at the bottom on most international tests behind children in Europe and East Asia. Again, we the excuses: They have elite systems, but we educate everyone. They compare a small number of their best to our much larger average. The facts are otherwise: Many of the countries with the highest test scores have more of their students in school than we do. The apologists say it is unfair to compare their scores to ours because we must educate a diverse population, while their student bodies are homogeneous. This is the most disturbing excuse of all. Do we really believe that Black, Hispanic and immigrant children can't be educated to the same standard as Whites? Whites are a declining percentage of our youth. If we bow to this excuse, we are giving up on America. But isn't this America-bashing? Don't we have firms in America as competitive as any in the world? Don't we have schools as good as those in any country? Isn't it true that .ve are in the midst Of one of the longest economic expansions this country has ever had? Sure, but we are not facing the facts about our future. What we are facing is an economic cliff of sorts. And the front-line working people of America are about to fall off it. 2 :Le From the 1950's to the 1970's, Arr :rica's productivity grew at a healthy pace. The nation was getting richer, and workers lived better on what they earned. Since then, the rate of increase in productivity has dropped dramatically. The distribution of income in the United States has been worsening. Those with college degrees are prospering, but the front-line workers have seen the buying power of their paychecks shrink year after year. To be sure, the economy has grown. But that growth came from the fact that more of us have been working. During the 1980's a higher percentage of Americans were working than at any time in this century. The 'baby boom' generation came into the workforce and many women went to work to maintain family incomes at their former levels. In addition, the country has been borrowing at unprecedented levels to maintain national income. We underinvested in .,r infrastructure and allowed it to deteriorate. As a result, many of us are living as well as we did, but we are living on borrowed money and borrowed time. What happens now? In the future, we cannot grow our economy by putting more people to work, as we have done for 30 years. Fewer people are entering the workforce. and few , - still will enter in the years ahead. We must grow by having every 25 Pre/ at e America-1 worker produce more. If we don't, our incomes will go into a free fall with no end in sight. That is the economic cliff we face. To avoid falling off, many policy changes are needed, but one thing is certain: we must work .nore productively and be more competitive. We cannot do this simply by using better machinery, because low wage countries can now use the same machines and still sell their products more cheaply than we can. We can do this only by mobilizing our most vital asset, the skills of our people not just the 30 percent who will graduate from college, but the front-line workers, the people who serve as bank tellers, farm workers, truck drivers, retail clerks, data entry operators, laborers and factory workers. We can do this only by reorganizing the way we work in our stores and factories, in our warehouses and insurance offices, and in our government agencies and hospitals. We can give much more responsibility to our front-line workers, educate them well and train them to do more highly skilled jobs. By doing this, we streamline work. Many fewer supervisors, fewer quality checkers, fewer production schedulers and fewer maintenance people are needed, so organizations become more efficient. Because they are more efficient. they can sell more. Be14 cause they can sell more, they can expand. Because they can expand, they can employ more people. Although each operation requires fewer people, society as,a,whole can increase employment and wages can go up. Our most formidable international competitors are doing just this. For the most part, we are not. We still have a robust economy. Some of our firms are among the best run in the world. They learned how to organize for high productivity. If many more do so, and we make the required investment in skills for our front-line workers, this country will have a very bright future. If not, our incomes will decline at an accelerated pace. This is our choice: high skills or low wages. Bill Brock Co-Chair Ira C. Magaziner Chair Ray Marshall Co-Chair 15 2 6 Preface S<, ar.0 itr% , .'' 1... L '' , II .0 1 ' " L ,ts r' 416,, L." THE PROBLEM Over the past two decades, our productivity growth-has slowed to a craw1,-our incomes have stagnated and the wage gap has widened between our nation's educational shaves' and have nots.' From 1960 to 1973, American private, nonagricultural workers each produced an average of 2.9 percent more every year than the year before. Since 1973, it has taken nearly three years to achieve the same productivity improvement gained in one pre1973 year. Our economy has grown because we now have 50 percent of our people working instead of 40 percent as in 1973. We added 40 million new jobs. More of us have been working, so we have produced more. Because our economic growth has not come from improved productivity, however, our wages have not improved. In fact, real average weekly earnings have dropped more than 12 percent since 1969. These hardships have not been borne equally by all Americans: The highest earning 30 percent of American families increased their share of national income from 54 percent in 1967 to 58 percent in 1987, while the bottom 70 percent have been losing ground. 19 The WcOndinit-CIRE A Few Of Us Are Getting Richer, But Most Of Us Are Losing Ground 58 55% C,11111°11.1111461:4 46 45% 42 1967 1987 Distribution of income in the United States 1967-1987 Source: Bureau of the Census P8 The Problem Over the past 15 years, the earnings gap between white collar professionals and skilled tradespeople has gone from two percent to 37 percent; the gap between professionals and clerical workers has gone from 47 percent to 86 percent. Over the past decade, earnings of collegeeducated males age 24 to 34 increased by 10 percent. Earnings of those with only high-school diplomas declined by nine percent. And those in the workforce who do not hold high-school diplomas saw their real incomes drop by 12 percent. Over 60 percent of White families have incomes over $25,000 per year, compared with only 49 percent of Hispanic families and 36 percent of Black families. The poverty rate for Black families is nearly three times that for Whites, and the gap has been widening. One in five American children one third of our future front-line workforce Is born into poverty. 9 11w Pros, em The More Education You Have, The More Money You Earn aria , 0 Men 24-34 0 Women 24-34 li 0 15 4 10% 2 S IASI. LI .s -12 HJ 11 +11 +11 fft S Changes in Earnings by Education Level 1979-1987 Source: fducation & IncomtUagssgtnal& Levy & Mkbel 20 What The Future Holds Our population in the 1990's is likely to grow at about eight percent, a slower rate than for any period since the 1950's. This compares to a 1970's growth rate of 20 percent and a 1980's rate of 11 percent. Over 40 percent of new workforce entrants will be minorities and immigrants, groups which are at disproportionately low income levels tmlay. 25% The Economic Cliff: Workforce Growth Is Slowing 0 Aduk Population librkforce 16 15 16 11 1960's 1970's 1980's 1990's (Estimated) ''.owth of Adult Population r-kforce gu efLabor Statistics We can no longer depend upon more people working to give us economic growth. If productivity continues to falter, and real wages decline, we can expect one of two futurcb. Either the top 30 percent of our population grows wealthier while the bottom 70 percent becomes progressively poorer or we may ail slide into relative poverty together. $350 $300 $250 The Economic Cliffs Earnings Are Declining 1949 1959 1969 1979 1989 Average Weekly Earnings Total Private Non-Agrkultural Workforce (1989 Dollars) Sources Bureau of Labor Statistics 30 7he Problem To choose a more prosperous futun. , we must improve productivity. As we shall see, this will require major changes in the way we organize our workplaces, and a major investment in the skills of our people. 60% 50% 40% 130% 20% 10% 0 1960-73 1973-09 % Growth for Two Periods Since 1960 The Emma, erhm Because More Are-Worlds* 4.111111111111111111111111 52 veasge 29 32 9 Sources: Bureau of Economic Analysis Bureau of labor Statistics 31 Me Pmblem 20 IS THERE A SKILLS SKORTAGE? A front-page series in The Neu, York Times last September foretold an impending crisis in our national workforce. David Kearns, Chairman of Xerox Corporation, described "the makings of a national disaster." Former Chairman of Procter & Gamble Brad Butler predicted the creation of -a Third World within our country." And James Burke. Chief Executive Officei of Johnson & Johnson, lamented "the American dream twned nightmare." Strong language is not new to the debate over the American skills crisis. Since the release of the Workforce 2(X)0 report in 1987. the attention of our nation's business and education communities, and increasingly of our governments, has focused on the problem of the mismatch of skills to jobs. Companies are sounding the alarm. Telephone sales jobs are going begging in Boston because MCI cannot find qualified workers; textile workers are no longer able to operate their computerized machines; and aircraft manufacturers in California have teamed up out of necessity to train employees. Companies such as New York Tele2 phone report hiring frustrations of epic proportions 57,000 applicants had to be tested to find 2,100 who were qualified to fill entry level technical jobs. The cry from America's board rooms, education think tanks and government officials is two-fold: America's workers are ill-equipped to meet employers' current needs and ill-pmpared for the rapidly approaching high technology, service-oriented future. So why, given the scope of the existing debate, launch yet another study of America's skills crisis? It was our purpose to go back and examine the skills issue from the bottom up, to propose solutions by grappling with the problem's underlying causes. This required visiting hundreds of American firms in all sectors of the economy and interviewing thousands of employers, personnel managers, production supervisors and workers. The goal of our inquiry was to understand what American workers are doing what their jobs demand, what their employers expect of them and how these expectations are likely to change in the future. . !s %here .4 Skills Shortage' . . . why, given tbe scope elf the existiug debate, lautscb yet another study qf America's skills crisis? It was oar purpose to go back and exassisse tbe Wits issue from the bottom NA to (grapple) with the proldenes underlying causes. 13 The primary concern of more than 80 percent of employers is finding workers with a good work ethic and appropriate social behavior 'reliable,"a good attitude,' 'a pleasant appearance,' 'a good personality,.' 3 4 We did not anticipate what we found. The picture we uncovered was of a skills shortage, but one much more subtle and complex, and ultimately more discomforting, than that reflected in the public debate. Our research revealed a wide range of concerns covered under the blanket term of 'skills.' While businesses everywhere complain about the quality of their applicants, few -der to the kinds of skills acquired in school. The primary concern of more than 80 percent of employers is finding workers with a good work ethic and appropriate social behavior 'reliable,"a good attitude,' 'a pleasant appearance,"a good personality.' Although a few managers are worried about literacy and basic math skills, education levels rarely seem a concern. Employers do not complain about an inability to do algebra or write essays, though some are frustrated that a large number of their employees do not possess the elementary capability to read a production schedule or follow an instruction card. Many employers require a high-school diploma for all new hires, yet very few believe that the diploma indicates educational achievement. More than 90 percent view the diploma as a sign of the applicant's reliability and staying power, proof only that they did not drop out. A Mere A clalls Shortage% Less than 30 percent of our sample firms are concerned about the labor market predictions of Workforce 2000: Work and Workers for the 21st Centuty that women, minorities and immigrants will make cp the vast majority of new entrants to the workforce in the 1990's and jobs requiring higher skills will grow faster than low skill jobs. Few of these firms are worried about skills. Their focus is on providing day care for workers' children or English as a Second Language classes. A few of the employers surveyed (15 percent) mentioned occupation-specific shortages. The most commonly reported shortages are for workers in the traditional craft apprentice trades, like skilled construction or manufacturing, and in such traditionally female occupations as skilled secretaries, clerks and nurses. These shortages can be largtly attributed to changes in the relative earning potential of these workers. Men and women who ordinarily would have gone into skilled non-college jobs that require substantial preparation have chosen to attend college to take advantage of the higher wages offered to college graduates. 3 5 24 120% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0 The Reladve Wages Of Front4hse Workers Are Going Down 0 1972 ill 1967 I si 111 Change in Wages for Selected Occupations Relative to Each Other Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics 25 3 6 Perhaps even more interesting than the absence of an obvious skills gap was the lack of any expectation among the majority of employers that their skill requirements would be changing. Despite the widespread presumption that advancing technology and the evolving service economy would create jobs demanding higher skills, only five percent of employers are concerned about growing educational skill needs. These were mainly large manufacturers, financial service organizations and communications finns. To sum up, in our survey of employers across America, we found: Only five percent of employers feel that education and skill requirements are increasing significantly. More than 80 percent of employers express concern about 'skills' shortages, but they generally mean a good work ethic and social skills. Employers who think that education levels are insufficient usually refer to illiteracy and a lack of basic math skills. Only 15 percent of employers report difficulty finding workers with the appropriate occupational skills. These shortages are generally in chronically underpaid 'women's' occupations and traditional craft trades. Is There A Skills Shortage? Onlyilve percent qf employers feel that education and skill requirements are increasing significantly. Only 15 percent qf employers report difilasityfroding :Porkers with tbe appropriate oecapatiowat Mese shortages ewe generally in chronically underpaid 'women's' occupations and traditional crq/1 trades. 7 ... in a broad surrey of employment needs across America, we found little evidence of a far-reacbing desire for a more educated workforce. All 1o14 more tban 70 percent of tbe Jobs in America will not require a college education by tbe year 2000. These Jobs are tbe backbone of our economy. and tbe productivity of workers in these Jobs wig, make or break our economic future. 38 We did find a skills shortage of sorts. The problem of preparing young people who are reliable, presentable and who communicate well on the job should not be taken lightly. For the people who lack them, these skills often prove permanent obstacles to acquiring meaningful employment. But in a broad survey of employment needs acros.s America, we found little evidence of a far-reaching desire for a more educated workforce. Where Are People Working? The evident absence of a serious shortage of people with strong cognitive skills is easier to understand after an exlanination of the places where most Americans work. Despite the central position that a college education plays in the American dream. the United States employs one and a half times as many janitors, nearly twice as many secretaries and five times as many clerks as all the lawyers. accountants, investment bankers, stock brokers and computer programmers combined. Despite the decline of the agricultural sector in our high-tech society, America still employs more than two million farm workers compared with 85-1.0(X) doctors and dentists. There are 1.8 million engineers in America. but 6.2 million people work as retail sales clerks and more than 18 million on factory floors. A 1 here .1 skill.+ shortage' All told, more than 70 percent of the jobs in America will not require a college education by the year 2000. These jobs are the backbone of our economy, and the productivity of workers in these jobs will make or break our economic future. Where People Are Working 13% 13% 10% 3% 19% 7% Distribution of the Workforce 13% Source Bureau of Labor Statistics Professional Sales What Skills Do Jobs Require? According to our survey of national skill requirements, as confirmed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs held by the total United States workforce can be categorized as follows: 3 9 26 More than one third require little more than an eighth grade education. More than one third require a basic education plus some additional non-college skills. Education Required For Today's Jobs ri 16 Years or More 8-10 Years Plus Additional Training No More Than 8 Years Source: Bureau of Lab(); Statistics 4 0 Less than one third require a four-yeai college degree. Category 1: Out of 117 million employed workers in 1989, 40 million, or 34 percent, were employed in jobs that required less than a high-school education. These are the people who work behind counters, clean offices, make hotel beds, drive buses, take care of the sick nd elderly, grow, prepare and serve tixxl, wash dishes and work in factories. Most of these jobs require only eighth grade level math and communication A pleasant personality behind the service counter, physical stamina on the construction site or a steady hand on the wheel tend to be the important requirements. Category 2: Forty-two people arc employed in jobs in America that require a significant amount of training beyond a basic euucation. but not a four-year college degree. In this group fall the traditional skilled NNorkers apprenticed trades, auto mechanics. secretaries and data workers. firefighters. electricians. plumbers and technicians. It was in these jo'ts that Nxe fi)und occupation-specific skills shortages most often mentioned. Category 3: The last group of 35 million people are in jobs that are likely to require a four-year collego degree. Workers in this category include managers, financial analysts, accountants, salespeople, doctors. ls i1en..1 Skills Shortew' . . . Jobs hekl by the total United States worifforce can be categorized as follows: More than one third require little more than an eighth grade education. More then one third require a bask education plus some additional noncollege skills. Less than one third require a four-year college degree. 4 1 The introduction of new technology increases job skill requirements for some, but lowers skill requirements for others . . . In our survey we found more examples of deskilling. With some exception& the education and skill lerels of American workers roughly match the demands of their jobs. 42 lawyers, teachers and engineers. These people have gained the most income as the real wages of workers in the other two categories have declined. Is America Changing The Way It Works ? The distribution of jobs among these three categories has changed only slightly over the last 17 years. The proportion of jobs in both the unskilled and skilled craft categories has dropped only three to four percentage points each from their levels in 1972 (from 37 percent to 34 percent in the first category, 40 percent to 36 percent in the second). The management and professional jobs of Category 3 have increased from 23 to 30 percent since 1972. Even more significant. a higher number of people occupying these jobs are now graduates of four-year colleges close to half merall, and more than three quaners of new entrants. The major 'skills gap defined by the orkfinve 2000 repon is simply a continuation of this trend An increasing number of all new jobs created En Category 3 in the next decade \ \ ill require a four-year college degree. We found no other major change in skill requirements on the horizon. The introduction of new technology increaNes job skill requirements tor some. but lowers skill requirements for others A computer can be used both as a tool to expand the informaThere A Stalls Shortage% tion available to a worker, thereby increasing responsibilities, or it can be used to remove responsibility and judgment from a worker by standardizing procedures and limiting responses. The latter 'de-skills' jobs, while the former increases skill requirements. In our survey we found more examples of deskilling. What Is The Challenge We Face? With some exceptions, the educallon and skill levels of American workers roughly match the demands of their jobs. The vast majority of our businesses are not planning any major reorganization of the way work is done that would affect this equilibrium. Although the demand for college graduates will probably rise over the decade, this will not dramatically alter the character of our labor market, nor create a crisis. Four-year ,:ollege graduates have been increasing as a percentage of our workforce since 1940 from six percent in that year, to 11 percent in 1959. to 22 percent in 1987. A continuation of this trend will bring us to the 30 percent that is likely to be required by the year 2000. We will face a challenge similar to that faced by many Third World countries, to instill in our youth the attitude and social manners required for work in an advanced 43 28 industrial nation. Ve will also have to till selected occupational shortages that emerge. And, we will have to make provisions for day care as well as English classes for immigrant workers. Meeting these challenges will not be easy. But if we meet them, we will no longer have a skills gap. However, simply meeting these challenges will not raise our living standard. By preparing more Americans for today's jobs we will, at best, r..rpetuate the nation's current slow rate of productivity growth and the incomes of inost American workers will slide. But there is an alternative . . 4 4, 29 Is There A Skills Shortage? By preparke more American's/or today's jobs we wilt at best, petpetuate tbe xenon's curreet slow rate qfprodectivity growth and tbe incomes qf most Amerkais workers will slide. But there is axe alternative . . . s 4 5 3 AMERICA'S WORKERS: DISPOSABLE RESOURCE OR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE ? The stories in this chapter are true; the names of people hair been changed and one of the plants is described anonymously. Joe Smith is a Vietnam vet who works in an electrical control panel plant in the Midwest. for the past 15 years..1oe has been punching holes into the metal sheets that form the panel casing. Seven or eight hundred times a day he pulls th: metal sheets off the conveyor bell, aligns them on the drill press, activates the drill, watches as the press comes crashing down, removes the sheets from the press, wipes away the metal flashing from around the holes and then returns the sheets to the conveyor belt. The monotony is interrupted every so often when Joe's machine breaks down or when a problem crops up down the line and the service people come to fix it. Somefirms, too, the forklift operators deliver the wrong materials or the set-up people have to readjust the machines when the plant is running a new batch. 4 6 i 1 lie Joe earns about $9 per hour ($13.50 when he gets overtime) plus health insurance and pension benefits. Between his $25,000 salary and his wife's $15,000 salary from her job at the bank, his family gets along pretty well. Lately, though, Joe has begun to worry. The company introduced a new kind of snap-on panel that looks as if it may replace the one he makes. Joe has noticed that the new job is not a career job. Most of the workers are young practically kids and they earn only $6 per hour. They do not receive the benefits Joe gets. Last year, a friend of Joe's lost his job when the company moved the wire harness department to Mexico. His friend finally found a $6-per-hour job as a shopping mall security guard. Now his friend's family is having trouble paying the mortgage. At 38- years-old and with only a high-school diploma, Joe worries that if he loses his job he will not fare.any better. America's U orken Sam lopresti was assigned to manage Joe's plant two years ago because *be plant was not earning mucb money. Sam's role was to cut costs apd turn tbe plant around He cbose to do tbis by replacing well paid workers witb lower paid ones tbrokgb ouisourcing and by product redesign to use 1.:ss materials and labor. So far be bas saved tbe company $20 million. 4 7 Our wages are five times higher than those in Taiwan and Singapore, six times higher than ix South Korea and eine times higher than in Mexico. Increasing6P, fierce competition has forced American companies to cut costs aggressively. Fmployers are responding to this pressure in a number of ways. One way is to move production to low wage countries, closing down American plants and becoming importers. Another is to replace workers with machines. A third is to lower labor costs by cutting wages and benefits: replacing higher paid workers with lower paid ones. 4 S Sam Lopresti was assigned to manage Joe's plant two years ago because the plant was not earning much money. Sam's role was to cut costs and turn the plant around. He chose to do this by replacing well paid workers with lower paid ones through outsourcing and by product redesign to use less materials and labor. So far he has saved the company $20 million. For example, Sam found that by mewing the wire harness assembly department to Mexico, he could replace workers he was paying $12 per hour (including benefits) with dollar-per-hour labor. Within the plant, Sam's engineers found a way to snap the panel case together. The proposal was a double winner. It eliminated the need to drill holes and bolt the panels together, saving labor. Moreover, the simple assembly allowed Sam to hire $6-per-hour temporary workers to replace the more expensive career machine operators. "The panel is too big to move to Mexico," Sam explains. "But it really bugs me to pay $12 an hour for people to use screwdrivers. My 10-year-old son can do that." Sam now plans to expand the practice of snapping on panels. "Well save almost $1.5 million on that project alone," he says. "We feel the Japanese breathing down our necks in this industry; we have to cut costs or we're history." Joe will lose his job this year. .4 awn( a 'A lt orkers Across our -iation today, millions of workers face situations similar to Joe's. To stay competitive, many companies are increasingly trying to cut the cost of labor. Why is this happening? There are. many reasons, but one of the most serious is increased competition. Our wages are five times higher than those in Taiwan and Singapore, six times higher than in South Korea and nine times higher than in Mexico. Increasingly, fierce competition has forced American companies to cut costs aggressively. Deregulation of service industries like transportation, banking and telecoMmunications has intensified domestic competition and forced cost cuts. Public employers have been forced by funding cuts to adopt stringent efficiency measures as well. Employers are responding to this pressure in a number of ways. One way is. to move production to low wage countries, closing down American plants and becoming importers. Another is to replace workers with machines. A third is to lower labor costs by cutting wages and benefits; replacing higher paid workers with lower paid ones. American companies have adopted all three approaches. Some 700 American companies employ more than 350,000 4 9 32 people in Singapore, Mexico and Taiwan alone. Many more companies import products to sell under their own brand labels goods ranging from air conditioners to microwave ovens and VCRs. Service companies, like retailers and whca-salers that cannot move offshore, am cutting the benefits of their long-term workers and increasingly resorting to part-time or temporary labor to keep wages and benefits down. Public employers are also taking drastic steps. Some are instituting hiring freezes and reducing services. Others are using private contractors who pay lower wages to perform public services. In order to meet immediate cash needs, investments in public infrastructure are being reduced. The employers instituting these changes are not nec-:ssarily Scrooges; they are responding to real economic pressures. They see no other way to survive. But there is another way. An Alternative Six years ago, an IBM circuit hoard factory in Austin. Texas was in big troubk. Executives from IBM's personal computel ,,kint complained to top management that the), could buy the Iloards elsewhere and szive the company S60 million Wlw should they continue buying from Austin? For many companies, s(10 million in savings would haxe been enough reason close the plant But IBM has a full employrJ ment practice that discourages closing plants and firing workers, so the company gave Austin a chance to become competitive. Unlike Sam Lopresti at the control panel plant, the Austin managers deckled to cut costs by changing work organization. The plant had huge indirect costs. For every direct worker building the circuit boards, two or three indirect workers were required to move materials, inspect quality, repair mistakes, maintain the machines, schedule and supervise. Despite the efforts of countless supervisors, planners and inspectors, too many boards were shipped with defects and costly inventory lay all ar)und the plant. The IBM managers tackled the problem by upgrading skills. They organized their line workers into teams. giving each group responsibility for its own inspection, repair, maintenance, material ordering and supervision. They assigned indirect workers to the teams and gave them direct production tasks. The ratio of indirect to direct workers was reduced to less than one-to-one. The IBM executives also changed job classifications by reorganizing manufacturing slots into seven categories (manufacturing technical associates IMTA's1) based upon skill reouirements. Workers performance on competency tests determines their classification. Under the earlier organization tlw career track for a manufacturing worker America's Workers But there is another way . . . the Austin managers decided to cut costs kv changing work organization. The plant bad huge indirect costs. For every direct worker building the circuit boards two or tbree indirect workers were required to move materials. inspect quality, repair mistakes, maintain the machines, schednle and sapervise . . . They cssigned indirect workers to the teams and gave them direct production tasks. 5 1 Old Work Organization Support d6666' Front-line 'Workers ended after about five years. By contrast, the new MTA system provides opportunities for advancement through the fifteenth or twentieth year, with each level requiring a higher degree of skill or responsibility. Vera Sharbonez had worked at the Austin plant ever since she left high school in 1969. Her job was to feed circuit boards into the automatic insertion machine which rapidly fitted each board with more than -)0 transistors and capacitors. When the madline had completed its work, she pulled the board out, inspected it for mistakes and put It in the 'pass' 01 'reject bin. She did this about 1,200 times a day. Her pay was $10 per hour. .1nterica S It (wizen. New Work Organization §566M Oe 666bM When rumors started spreading about trouble at the plant five years ago, Vera worried that she might lose her job. Good johs were scarce in Texas, and she needed the money she earned at IBM. Instead, Vera was able to keep her job. She was assigiied to a new team of production workers. The team included people from all areas of the plant. They were told that, in addition to their old tasks, they would have to learn a range of new skills. Vera would not only operate the insertion machine but also set it up at the beginning of the day and fix it when it broke down. She and the others would be responsible for setting their own schedules and they would take turns leading the team. 5 2 .14 "When the MTA system v int. Aueed, I was worried." Vera recalls. "I wasn't sure that I could do the nev; jobs. I thought that management was just hying to get mc...e work out of us for the same pay." To prepare Vera and her co-workers, !BM launched a maim education and training initiative for its workforce, some of whom lacked a high-school education. The planP now spends more than five percent of total payrod (not including lost wages) to teach workers how to maintain machine: y, plan production, troubleshoot lectronic circuitry and use computers. In some cases, workers had to he taught basic reading and math before they could take the other courses. Today. Vera's group meets to discuss the day's work plan each momint;. They order their own materials from 'he storeroom, they speak with internal suppliers about materials problems and talk with customers about quality. The team keeps its own quality records and helps with decisions about what equipment to purchase. Vera still spends 25 percent of her time loading hoards, but it is only one of the many jobs she knows how to do. "I've been working a lot harder the past few years than before. but its worth it. I feel like they're treating me like an adult now. I can make decisions. I am also learning things that will be useful to me in all kincis of jobs. If management would give 1... the production goals, I think we could run the whole plant now!" 35 53 Workers at IBM Austin also help make investment decisions. Frank Jones and his co-workers in the lamination area, for t.xample, decided to build a better 'clean environment. They studied alternate systems, worked with potential vendors, conducted a cost/benefit analysis and helped design and order the equipment. Improvements have made the Austin plant competitive with its rivals. The $60 million gap has been closed. Productivity has improved by more than 200 percent andquality by five times, and inventory has been reduced by 40 percent. Despite the improved productivity, no one has been laid off at the plant (though IBM does have an early rlirement plan). As the plant has become more competitive, production has expanded by 600 percent, a new product is being introduced and the facility is employing more people than ever before. Management plans to extend the new organization much further, delegating even broader responsibilities to the line workers. Which Choice ? The managers at IBM Austin and at the control panel plant were both trying to cut costs to be more competitive. But the choices they made were fundamentally different. While the panel plant achieved 75 percent of its cost improvements by paying America's Workers To prepare Vera and her coworkers, 11111 lasenthed a nagjor esktanstlos and iralaliss ittliativrikr Stit woripsom sow qpirbon lethal 1 a MOschool adocatkm Th.pSm wow spends more tbaafiso percent of total payroll (not beanbag lost wages) to teach workers bow to etaintain stsachinety, plax Prosktclion, troubleshoot electronic arcaitry mut use conqmsters. 54 The managers at IBM Austin and et tbe control panel plant were both trying to cut costs to be more omnpetitive. But tbe choices they made wet e fOndamentally different. While tbe panel plant achieved 75 percent of its cost improvements by paying lower wages, IBM Austin acik eyed more than 90 percent of its improvement through greater productivity with no net loss in employment. lower wages, IBM Austin achieved more than 90 percent of its improvement through greater productivity with no net loss in employment. Why didn't Sam Lopresti try a skills upgrade approach? For him, the choice seemed too risky. "It would take too much investment to try to educate the guys we have here to take more responsibility," he said. "Many aren't even high-school graduates. I've read about these factories that are giving power to the workers and expecting them to act like college. grads. That's academic stuff. It sounds great in the classroom, but it would take years even if you. could make it work, which I doubt. I don't have years to turn this place around." The IBM managers, though dealing with a similarly educated workforce, did not have Sam Lopresti's option; the ampany's full employment practice discourages layoffs. As IBM's managers note, good quality is hard to get with a low wage, high turnover philosophy. From a management point of view, both approaches worked. Both turned around unprofitable plants. In the short run, either choice was a good one. For the nation, however, the choice has serious long-term implications. High productivity work organizations mean the jobs stay at home. Job security increases, as do wages. America's Workers 55 36 4 THE ORGANIZATION OF WORK IN AMERICA The organization of America's workplaces today is largely modeled after the manufacturing system made famous by Henry Ford in the eany 20th century. Frederick Winslow Taylor ,:onceived the system tt provide an efficient way to organize mass production with a large population of low skilled workers. The premise is simple: Break complex jobs down into a myriad of simple rote tasks, which the worker then repeats with machine-like efficiency. The system was designed on the correct assumption for the early 1900's that educated w orkers would be hard to find. The system is managed by a small group of educated planners and supervisors who do the thinking for the organization. plan strategy, implement changes, motivate w olkers and solve problems. An extensive. hierarchical supervisory structure and elaborate administrative procedures allow managers to keep control of a large number of workers. Most employees under the Taylor model need not be educated. It is far more important that they be reliable. steAy and 37 56 willing to follow directions. The managers do the thinking, technology furnishes the productivity ach ances and the operators simply supply grease for the wheel. The America of the 1950's and 1960's prospered with the Taylor model. Immigrants arriving at our shores and farmers migrating to the cities furnished a limitless supply of low skilled labor. America's vast domestic market also encouraged capital investment for mass production. The United States embraced the system more firmly than any other country. This system helped make our nation rich and, in earlier decades, made the United States the largest manufacturer with the largest middle class of any country in the world. The system stilt determines the way we organize our schools, our offices, our banks and our hospitals. And it continues to define the job expectations of workers like Joe and Vera, as well as the options that managers like Sam are willing to consider. 10e Organization Of WOrk In Amerwa Most employees sender tbe Taylor model "died not be educated. It is far more impulsion tbat tbty be reliable, steady and wiling tofollow tliractions. The managers do tbe Oilskin& tedmologyfternisbes the productivity advances. . . 57 As a new century approaches, however, this old work organization as becoming less appropriate for a high wage nation. High speed communication and transportation me. Ise it possible to produce most products and wrvices anywhere in the workL Modern machinery and production methods con tberefore be combined with low wage workers to drive costs down. 58 Why Mass Production Is Outdated As a new century approaches, however, this old work organization is becoming less appropriate for a high wage nation. High speed communication and transportation make it possible to.produce most products and services anywhere in the world. Modern machinery and production methods can therefore be combined with low wage workers to drive costs down. High wage nations like the United States can succeed only by producing higher quality products, providing customers with greater product variety, introducing new products more frequently and creating automated systems which are more complex than those that can be operated in low wage countries. These lequirements increase production complexity, making it difficult for a small group of managers at the center to control their businesses through administrative procedures. Under the Taylor system, niore planners are needed to develop procedures for new product introductions; more schedulers are needed to schedule greater product variety; more set-up and maintenance people are needed to handle the automated systems; and more checkers are needed to check the checkers already in place to ensure high quality. Surrounding the direct-line worker doing his or her two minute job in a factory, for example, is an army of indirect support Me Organaanon Of V.* In America workers setting up and maintaining machines; inspecting and reworking faulty products; receiving, storing and delivering materials to the line; cleaning up; Tunning the utilities; producing computer runs of parts, orders, schedules and performance; hiring and firing employees; designing products and prucesses and assuring quality. In addition, several layers of managers exist to supervise all of this. Mass production has become highly bureaucrati.c and less efficient than it was. An increasing number of production steps and indirect processes means more hand-offs of information, parts and finished products. This, plus the growing number of dependencies, lengthens production time and causes a dramatic increase in mistakes. In back offices of layloristic' insurance companies, for example, forms are passed from one worker to another in assembly line fashion. Functionaries take longer to process forms, make mistakes that must be corrected and shuffle customers who have made telephone inquiries from department to department. Each specialized worker knows only a single part of the form and has no authority to solve a customer problem that goes beyond a narrowly defined area. As policy options increase, new forms of risk are insured and computers are .ncreasingly sed to store and process information, work xomes more complex and 38 change becomes a way of life. The number of tasks to be perforrned increases exponentially, and the tasks change often. To control all of this, administrative guidelines, work procedures and indirect functions multiply until bureaucracy overwhelms efficiency and quality. An Alternative: High Performance Work Organizations Managers, however, do have another choice. Across the United States and throughout high wage countries around the world, some companies have been adopting a completely new style of work. The guiding principle of this new work organization is to reduce bureaucracy by giving authority to direct workers for a wider variety of tosks. Workers are asked to use judgment and make decisions rather than follow, by rote, cumbersome procedures spelled out in detail. Management layers disappear as front-line workers take over many of the tasks that others used to do from quality control to production scheduling. Tasks formerly performed by dozens of unskilled individuals ar.. now perfirrmed by fewer highly skilled people New forms of work organization apply in some form to almost every industry. In a traditional American hank, for example, th.. fun-tions of a teller are usually limited to accepting deprkits, cashing checks and recording loan and bill payments. The position is highly specialized. some tellers .i9 00 deal with commercial clients, others with foreign currency transactions, others with travelers' cheques and still others with small acccunt customers. -If a customer has a more complex transaction, seeks financial advice or is interested in bank 'prolucts,' the tzller refers the customer to a back-up depamnent, staffed in large part by college-educated customer service representatives. Some banks have even instituted different groups of back-up personnel who are organized by the complexity of the customer issue. The entire 'front office' system from automatit teller machines to tellers, from customer service and sales representatives to loan officers is organized by operations managers to move customers in and out of the bank as quickly as possible. It is a highly 'Tayloristic' work design. Most American banks have a turnover rate among tellers that averages more than 40 percent a year, and in some branches can approach 200 percent. Salaries are low, sorting at about $14,000 annually. Pressure is high to perform one's duties accurately and quickly, and advancement is limited. Training for these jobs consists of four to six weeks of orientation and practice. In a number of European banks, such as Hypo, Dresdner and the Bavarian Bank in Germany, work k now being reorganized to The Organizanon qf Work In Amenca Tbe gadding principk q ftbis Ism woo* tegaalzatkutts to reduce bureaucracy by authority to 4fred wtsrbersihr a wider variety q /tasks Maaagnmesa layers sitiappear asfrattt-ibte workers tabe over many qf the tasks that others used to do. New forms of work organization apply in SOW form to almost every industry. 61 In a number of European banks . . . work is now being reorganized to assign greater responsibility to skilled financial 'clerks'. . . They handle all tbe functions of the average American teller, plus open new accounts, grant mortgages and loans, process commercia4 foreign and consumer transactions, provide investment advice and sell stocks and bonds functions performed by specialized departments In traditional American banks. 62 assign greater responsibility to skilled financial 'clerks.' The individuals who fill these positions are actually viewed as 'front office' professionals, rather than as tellers. They handle all the functions of the average American teller, plus open new accounts, grant mortgages and loans, process commercial, foreign and consumer transactions, provide investment advice and sell stocks and bonds functions peiformed by specialized departments in traditional American banks. in some foreign banks, these workers are assigned their own clients with whom they build professional relationsh,ps. There is an emphasis on job rotation, working in small groups with other bank professionals and demonstrating some degree of competency in every banking function both in the 'front' and 'back' offices. The financial cleik position is regarded as an official profession for which one must train for tl ree years in a competitive and rigorous apprenticeship program beginning at age 16. Learning does not end with the apprer ..!ship: a uni) ersity track or an industr) supported professional banking academy provides considerable opportunities for advancement. The education foundation and the apprenticeship program that prepare young people for these professions have been in existence for decades; now in the face of increasing global competition in financial The Otganizahon lThrk ht Amerka markets, these foreign banks are redesigning work to take greater advantage of the capabilities of these well-trained employees. To be sure, not every foreign bank is making such changes; but the tools, the potential and the trend is evident. Work reorganirations like this require big investments in training. Workers' pay levels often rise to reflect their greater qualifications and responsibilities. But the productivity and quality gains more than offset the costs to the company of higher wages and skills development. Despite these advantages, most American companies still cling to old forms of work organization. For more than 95 percent of the companies in our survey, the ,:ontrol panel plant's solution is still the preferred route. Why Compnies Continue To Make The Low Wage Choice Faced as they are with munting foreign and domestic competitive pressures, why do most American companies stick with traditional forms of work organization? For many companies, the costs seem too high and the benefits still uncertain: A substantial initial investment is necessary to shift to a high productivity path. Workers and managers must be retrained. Unlike capital investment, which is an employer's to keep, companies risk losing their training investment if employees seek work elsewhere. 63 40 Returns on investment from reorganization may take several years to realize The perverse short-term financial horizons by which most American companies operate present tremendous obstacles to this type of investment. The flow of work and responsibilities must be redesigned. The transition can disrupt work processes. Public policy often encourages the low wage path. Our lack of national commitment to full employment makes it easier for companies to hire temporary or seasonal workers and lay them off with little consequence. Our foreign tax credit and deferral and foreign trade zone legislation provide incentives for low wage production offshore. Our equal pay law does not apply to part-time and temporary employ ces, making it cheaper for employer; to replace full-time permanent workers with contingent workers. American companies that overcome all the obstacles and decide to pursue high productivity work organizations run into one final obstacle that their foreign counterparts do not have to face: a front-line workforce that often needs remedial education. As one financial services manager said to our study team, "We can pay to give remedial education to our current workers, 41 64 but we can't afford to regive high-school educations to all our new hires who are high-school graduates because they didn't learn much the first time? Or as another financial services human resources director said, "I can do my back office functions anywhere in the world now. If I can't get enough 'skilled workers here, I'll move the skilled jobs out of the country and just do the customer interface here." Why Work Organization Is Pivotal The changes taking place in work organization are key to productivity and quality improvement, the touchstones of economic success. Steam and electricity drove the first two industrial revolutions, causing profound changes in work organization which increased productivity, quality and living standards dramatically. The creation of the factory in the 1800's and mass production in the 1900's followed these technology breakthroughs. The advent of the computer, high speed communications and universal education are heralding a third industrial revolution. High performance work organizations are already unleashing new advances in productivity. A greater variety of high quality products and . services are possible with shorter lead times between new product generations and between the placing of an order and the receipt of the product. The Organization Of Work In America IMO performance work nelintazallas are already sudeasbing stew suivances productivity. A greater variety tif NO *ASV products and services are possible with theater lead times betwear new product generations and between the placiag qf an order mut tbe receipt of tbe produa R5 Work organization cbaages drive tbe demandfor NO skills. But :vitbout a skilled workforce, most companies will settle into low wage work organizations. America implemented the mass production revolution faster than other nations, even though others the British and Germans primarily had pioneered more of the enabling technologies. The enabling technologies for today's new revolution have been pioneered mainly in the United States, but this does not guarantee that we will reap the greatest economic benefits. To do so, we must also lead the world toward new high performance work organizations. Work organization changes drive the demand for high skills. But without a skilled workforce, most companies will settle into low wage work organizations. As we shall now see, we are not now providing the education and skills to a majority of out students and workers which will be required to support a move to new high performance work organizations. C 6 The Organization Of Work In America 42 HOW WE PREPARE OUR CHILDREN FOR WORK No nation has produced a highly qualified technical workforce without first providing its workers with a strong general education. America invests little in its front-line workforce. We do not expect much from them in school. We give them few job skills and little training. And we let them sink or swim when they try to get into the workforce. Yet, these are the very people we must count on to lead the way to a competitive and productive economy. The educational performance of those students who become front-line workers in this country is well below the average performance of their counterparts in some newly industrializing low wage countries. Our front-line workers will not be able to compete in the economic arena because they are increasingly unable to compete in the educational arena. They are fast becoming unemployable at American wage levels. In our expectations for young people, the resources that we devote to them and the rewards for performance that we give them, our whole system conspires to produce minimal educational effort or achievement among our students who are not college bound. 43 E 7 80 70 SO 40 0 10 20 30 40 50 % of Student Population Taking the Courses U. S. Students Anchor The Bottom On Most International Tests (Algebra Results For 17-Year-Olds) Ja Pan Finland United Kingdom eon 11/-1,Sweden Israel 0 tario New Zealand British Scoand Columbia United States Hungary Sources Incentives for 1.earl John H. Bishop How We Prepare Our Children For Work America invests little in its front-line worlebrce. We do not expect mucbfross tbem scbool We sive tbakftw Job skills and *de tfwinksg. And we let Mem sink or swim saes tbey try to get into tbe workprce. Olsrfrosa-line workers will not be able to compete i tbe economk arena because tbey are &crow** unabk to compete in tbe educational arena. They are fast becoming susemPloYable at Americas, wage levels. Our educational system is almost wholly oriented toward the needs of the college bound We provide very little for the majority of this nation's youth who do not go to four-year colleges. One infive American children grows up in Third World surroundings . . . many of thzse children start out with severe learning disadvantages from which they never recover. R9 Two Tracks From The Starting line Beginning in elementary school, students are sorted and grouped within their classrooms by ability. In the early grades, these groups are often given birds names, like 'Bluebirds' and 'Robins.' Louis, a 'Bluebird' in a third grade class, spends the reading hour sounding out words on a blackboard one by one His teacher 'knows' that his ability is low, so she doesn't push him hard. Jim, a 'Robin' in Louis' class, sits by himself at a desk on the other side of the room. He and the rest of the 'Robins' are expected to read a certain number of stories per week and write mini-reports on their favorite story. Seven years later, Louis and Jim no longer go to the same classes: In his general math class, Louis is learning to calculate sales tax on a grocery bill. For his homework assignment, he is supnosed to add columns of figures together and then apply percentages to the total. Down the hall, Jim has been working on problems in analytical geometry for the past hour. Next period, he and his lab partners will work on the design of a simple software program to control a toy robot they are building. Louis represents nearly half of all highschool students, those who are relegated to 'general curriculum' courses to learn life survival skills.' It is a path to nowhere for Louis and the others who go on to become America's front-line workers. Jim, k.n the other hand, will go on to college. There, he will be given the skills, knowledge and credentials he needs to direct the front-line workers of this nation. Studeins who enter the workforce rather than attend college or post-secondary vocational-technical training, account for only about 25 percent of all secondary school vocational credits. Surprisingly, students headed for college account for nearly 48 percent of these vocational credits. Less than one eighth of general education students enter a job with any occupationspecific vocational education preparation. As a result, the 'general curriculum' ends up providing neither strong academic skills nor strong vocational skills. Our educational system is almost wholly oriented toward the needs of the college bound. We provide very little for the majority of this nation's youth who do not go to four-year colleges. The story starts early, in the conditions under which many of mil front-line workers grow up, and the resources that we provide them while in school. Special Problems Of Mc Poor One in five American children grows ur. Third World surroundings. Often living in communities where they are surrounded hy hunger, violence and drug addiction, many 70 How We Pitpure Our Children For Worle 44 of these children start out with severe learning disadvantages from which they never recover. Poor children pose a significant challenge to educators, and their special problems often require extra attention. Schools by themselves cannot be expected to bring these children up to world class standards. Their job is made even more difficult, if not impossible, by the financing of the system. Since almost half of the funding for public education is drawn from local property taxes, the financial system favcrs those who are most likely to go to college the children of the economically advantaged. (In Ohio, for example, poor communities spend as little as $2500 per pupil while wealthier areas spend up to $10,000.) Affluent school districts also benefit disproportionately from state educitional funding. State aid is generally based on pupil attendance. Because dropout rates are lower in wealthier areas, they end up with more money for their secondary school age students than do poor districts. Schools with the largest percentage of disadvantaged students offer 40 percent fewer vocational courses and facilities, one third as many occupational programs, and one half as many advanced courses as schools with the smallest percentage of disadvantaged students. This nation cannot hope to produce a world class workforce without addressing these problems. 4 5 71 Expectations And Standards As a society, we do not seem to expect much of the students who are not headed for college. In fact, the difference between Louis and Jim lies mainly in the expectations that the adults in their lives have for them. From an early age, the adults in Louis' life told him that he had little academic ability. Believing it, he did not display any. But everyone expected much of Jim, and he performed. More than any other country in the world, the United States believes that natural ability, rather than effort, explains acbievement. The tragedy is that we communicate to millions of students every year, especially to low income and minority students, that we do not believe they have what it takes to learn. They then live up to our expectations, despite evidence that they can meet very high performance standards under the right conditions. Most employers look at the high-school diploma as evidence of staying power, not of academic achievement. The vast majority of them do not even ask to see a transcript. They realized long ago that it is possible to graduate from high school in this country and still be functionally illiterate. As a result, despite recent attempts to tighten up graduation requirements in many states, the non-college bound know that their performance in high school is likely to have little or no bearing on the type of employment they manage to find. How We Prepare Our Children For Work . . . we communicate to millions of students every year, especially to low income and minority students, tbat we do not believe tbty bave wbat it takes to learn. They tben live up to our expectations . . . . . . tbe non-college bound know that theirperibrisastat is, bigb scbool is likely to bave little or no bearbw on tbe type qf employment tbey manage to pod. 7 2 . . typical bigb-scbool graduates mill about in tbe kibor market, moving from one dead-end Job to another until tbe age of 23 or 24. Then, with little more in tbe way of skills than they bad at la they move into tbe regular labor market, no match for tbe bigb0 trained German, Danish, Swedish or Swiss youth of .19. 73 The Transition From School To Work Although the vast majority of our young people leave high school to go directly to work, we typically offer them little or no assistance in this transition. Few large firms in the United States will employ students who have just graduated from high school, preferring to wait until they have established some sort of track record elsewhere. Family and friends can often help middle class youngsters gain their first chan* .:. in the workplace. But poor and minority students in the inner cities and impoverished rural areas rarely have such help. Cettain they will be rejected out-ofhand hy middle class employers who will not like the way they talk, dress and behave, many give up early, both on school and work. The result is that typical high-school graduates mill about in the labor market, moving from one dead-end job to another until the age of 23 or 24. Then, with little more in the way of skills than they had at 18, they move into the regular labor market, no match for the highly trained German, Danish, Swedish or Swiss youth of 19. Most secondary schools provide little opportunity for the student to build a bridge to the workplace and gain, while in school, the values, habits and skills that European youth naturally acquire through their training and mentoring during apprenticeship programs. (In America, the apprenticeship system is not designed or perceived as a How We Prepare Our Children For Work school-to-work transition program the average apprentice in the United States is older than age 29.) Some vocational educators are moving to put more academic substance into their offerings. Some are creating tt.chnology curricula that incorporate demanding mathematics and science studies in an approach that enables students to apply what they are learning to challenging technological problems. Some 1,500 students are enrolled in school-to-apprenticeship programs based on the European model. Some high schools are pairing up with community colleges to offer combined programs that promise a real future to their vocational graduates. Some business organizations have worked with school districts to initiate high-school academies that offer good connections to technical careers in business. And some elite vocational schools have always done a good job of preparing their students for good careers. But these programs, promising as they are, hardly constitute a system. The fact remains that our secondary schools are not organized to meet the needs of employers or work-bound students. Even the vocational education system does a better job of placing its students in postsecondary educational institutions than placing them in jobs related to their course of study. The guidance system is set up to 74 46 help students get into college. Employers who ask for traiscripts typically find them very difficult to obtain, but colleges are able to receive them easily. There is no curriculum to meet the needs of non-college bound youth, no real employment service for those who go right to work, few guidance services for them, no certification of their accomplishment and, as we have mentioned, no rewards in the workplace for hard work in school. Dropouts Currently, more than 20 percent of our nation's students drop out before completing high school (the figure is as high as 50 percent in many inner cities). Not only do we make little effort to help our potential dropouts in school, but once they do drop out, our society makes even less of an effort to recover them. Some dropouts do come back at their own initiative and expense to earn their school equivalency certificates, but only after many years wasted in unproductive employment. Ironically, schools and governments reap substantial short-term benefits when a student drops out. For example, the average annual per pupil expenditure for a student in school is approximately $4,300. When a student drops out, the school's cosis drop. By comparison, overall spending in employment and training programs for dropouts is relatively low. While some 47 7 5 programs have per participant costs equal to or greater than the per pupil expenditures in schools, only a small fiaction of the eligible population is enrolled in these 'second chance' programs. If the total federal, state and local funding for 'second chance' programs were applied to all current dropouts, we would spend the equivalent of only $235 annually per dropout in the nation. This perverse incentive system essentially allows us to balance our education budgets on the backs of our school dropouts. Over the long run, however, we pay. Our welfare and unemployment systems, obr prisons, and, ultimately, the national economy are continually drained by the cost of sustainmg an uneducated, unproductive individual in our society. The Finish Line We expect very little academic accomplishment from the students who are not in the academic college bound curriculum; we give them watered down courses and we provide them with very few opportunities for participating in effective applied learning programs or for acquiring relevant, professional-level qualifications for occupations. We have no national system capable of setting high academic ntandards for the non-college bound or of assessing their achievement against those standards. How We Prepare Our Children For Work Mery is ao curriculum to meet tbe needs cinotvcoliege bound youth, ao real empioymona service fbr those wbo go Atm to work, few guidance servicesibr them, no certfficatioa qf their accomplishment ast4 as we &we mentioree4 no meant' in the workplaceibr bard work in school No: only do we make Mak ebrt to help our potential dropouts in scboo; but oace tbey do drop out, our society makes even less clan Vbrt to recover them This perverse incestive system essentially allows us to balance our education budgets on Om backs of our school dropouts. 7 6 Ourikture depends on baying blew sktilest bigbly motivated workers on tbe front line. Mai is not wbat our education system was designed to produce. We make very little provision for facilitating the school-to-work transition. It is especially difficult for students who know few adults to help them gain their first job or acquire le habits, attitudes and values that will enable them to keep that job once they get it. High-school guidance offices focus their efforts on the students going off to college, not on those bound for work. We do almost nothing to recover our students who drop out of school almost one quaiter of all our students one third of whom will go on to become our front-line wockforce. We provide far more financial support for districts with high proportions of students who usually attend four-year colleges than we do for districts serving our future frontline workforce. America will not be able to choose a high productivity, high wage future unless it charts a sharp change of course. Our future depends on having highly skilled, highly motivated workers on the front line. That is not what our education system was designed to produce. 77 Wow ire. Pnpare Our ChildreU air 4' ( o * 48 6 THE EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF AMERICA'S ADULT WORKERS Each year, American employers spend an estimated $30 billion on formal training. At most, however, only one third of this amount is spent on our non-college educated workforce, affecting no more than eight percent of our front-line workers. The occasional training which companies do provide for these workers is generally limited to orientation training for new hires or *team building and motivational training for longterm employees. The one exception is the ongoing training provkled for skilled craftspeople. Only a small fraction of firms make a significant investment in training workers. According to the American Society for Training and Development, $27 billion of that $30 billion was paid out by 15,000 employers (one half of one percent of all American employers). And, of this small universe of firms that actually train, only 100 to 200 the larst companies with significant professional and managerial staff -spend more than two percent of their payroll on formal training 78 49 The Education And Tmining Of Anwrica 's Adult Workers Ewa year, Antericaa employers *end ass estimated $30 Names Armed training .. 427 billow qf tbM .190 bon was paid oat by 11000 employers (owe bat/Vase pstreW qf all American emptoyers). 79 We tbus devote aboost all of our educational resources to tbe first 15 to 20 years of life. We assume tbat little learning will be required during tbe subsequent 40 to 50 years of working life, especially for front-line workers. s o The $30 billion spent by companies on training represents less than 10 percent of the nation's annual public education budget. We thus devote almost all of our educational resources to the first 15 to 20 years of life. We assume that little learning will be required during the subsequent 40 to 50 years of working life, especially for front-line workers. Apprentices are part of the small minority of front-line workers who benefit from extensive, long-term training. These are skilled workers construction tradespeople, operating engineers and tool and die makers. The apprenticeship system usually combines paid work with classroom and workplace instruction. Training is systematic. Clear industry established standards and regular performance assessments lead to nationally recognized certification. National industry based networks of unions and employers often help design the curricula and provide the locally administered programs with an infrastructure of support. Federal and state education funds support buildings and the cost of instructors. Apprenticeship programs sponsored by unions and companies provide coherent training to develop the skills of adult workers. Though worthwhile programs, they serve less than 300,000 people at any given time less than three tenths of one percent of our workforce. The Education And Training Of America's Adult Wothers The fact that employers in this country do not spend much money on training of front-line workers is not surprising. The 'Taylor' model of work organization still followed by most of our companies does not require skills from the vast majority of their workers. Americans have traditionally relied on the marketplace to determine how much educational preparation is necessary for work. We assume that companies will train their workers if it makes business sense, and that individuats will seek training if they feel it will improve their career prospects. However, most employers require little in the way of skills for most workers, so market demand for training is weak. And, information critical to efficient market functioning about the quality of training programs is largely unavailable. The result is relatively little training for the average worker. Foundations For Public lAbor Market Policy Modern public labor market policy in America has its origins in the Great Depression. The Federal and state governments created the Unemployment Insurance system (UD to provide temporary economic assistance to laid off workers. To help these workers, a national network of local offices was developed through a state administered employment service system. 8 1 50 To protect workers, the government established minimum wage laws, pension and insurance benefits standards, health and safety laws and child labor guidelines. Federal ground rules for labor and management relations were also set. The employment service network was originally used by the Federal government to link income maintenance, job search and training together, but that assignment has eroded over time. While skills development has never been a central focus of American labor market policy, a whole series of programs has grown on the periphery. Education, social and economic development policy initiatives have come to incorporate training as part of their missions. What we are left with is a complex and fragmented network of adult training efforts. Education Initiatives Though they were not designed to do so, state supported community colleges and federal Pell Grants and Guaranteed Student Loans have had a major impact on adult vocational training. More and more, public and proprietary educational institutions are becoming contract training providers to private employers and to public agencies. In 1947, the Truman report identified the need for a community college system. Originally conceived as 'stepping stones to four-year colleges, community colleges are now used primarily by recent high-school 5/ 8 2 graduates and adults for vocationally related training. Today, over 1,200 community colleges annually serve five million people in degree programs and another 4.5 million in non-credit courses, and their consume $12 billion in state funds. More than two thirds of the classesthey provide today are for adult vocational education. For adults who seek to upgrade their skills, the accessibility and flexible scheduling policies of community colleges make these institutions appealing. These characteristics also encourage sporadic course taking rather than the pursuit of degrees, however, and dropout rates are high. In addition, the lack of standards sometimes makes it difficult for students to transfer courses to other institutions or for employers to recognize the value of qualifications. According to the National Assessment of Vocational Education, only 19 percent of a group of recent hi0-school graduates who entered post-secondary education completed a bachelor's (11.2 percent) or an associate's (5.9 percent) degree or a certificate (1.9 percent) within four years. The assessment highlighted the need "to help students choose a field of study, construct a coherent sequence of courses in that field, complete the course or program and fmd a related job." The Educuuon And Tmuung Of America's Adult Workers Wolk Wes tlevelopmeat bas never been amaraljbass qf Americas labor marbet polk a whole swim qf ~wow ba snmetaitlise peripbery. Iblacatko4 *WM and economic elemblaNWN policy lablatives bast come to incorporate by*** as part qf their minion& Mae we are ittfl wib is a complex ameljhapaleled moor*qf admit training arms Tbe federsal and state training programs for dislocated and disadvantaged workers are well-intentione4 and some of tbem do au extraordinary Job. However, because tbe programs are designed exclusively to aid tbe disadvantaged and dislocated populations, benefits are marginal in tbe labor Market and participants are stigmatized. IR 4 Pell Grants and Guaranteed Student Loan programs were introduced to give poor and working class children the means to attend college. These programs helped to create a major industry of private proprietary schools, while at the same time fueling the community college system. Over 85 percent of students attending proprietary schools are funded by this public money. For employers, community colleges and proprietary schools are natural training providers. With large teaching staffs and extensive course material, these institutions can tailor programs to a client's needs. For the institutions themselves, the extra money that comes in the form of tuition and fees make this an attractive pursuit. Social Policy Just as education policy has spawned a vast network of training institutions for workers, our social policies have also created a series 'cif **anti Id train poor people. , Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty created a variety of targeted programs that eventually focused almost all of the Federal government's attention on short-term training programs for the economically disadvantaged. Several name changes have occurred since the 1960's, but not the type of training. Eventually, the Joh Training Partnership Act (JTPA) became the umbrella. Today, the Federal government spends roughly $5.7 billion annually on 13 major employment and training programs, two thirds of which is allocated to the 'TPA. JTPA has four major components training assistance for economically disadvantaged youth and adults (Tide HA), the Summer Youth Employment and Training Program (Title IIB), the Job Corps and the dislocated worker programs aide ED. Each JTPA program has specific eligibility requirements, but individuals can qualify for more than one program. Other JTPA programs provide employment and training assistance for dislocated workers, and for other target groups such as Indians, Native Alaskans, Hawaiians and migrant and seasonal workers. While JTPA is the largest, several other federal training programs exist. Each targets a special 'needs' population. Among these populations are senior citizens, refugees and those on welfare or needing vocational rehabilitation or food stamp assiStance. A number of states have Cieated social, , programs for the economically disadvantaged to supplement federal effons. The federal and state training programs for dislocated and disadvantaged workers are well-intentioned, and some of them do an extraordinary job. However, because the programs are designed exclusively to aid the disadvantaged and dislocated populations, benefits are marginal in the labor market and participants are stigmatized. R 5 The Education And Training Of America's Adult Worker's 52 Due to limited funds, and their dispersion among such a large number of constituencies, these programs reach only a small portion of poor people in the country and provide only limited training assistance. Economk Development Inidatives Most states have created a variety of programs to attract industry. They provide low cost construction financing, subsidized land, infrastructural subsidies and a wariety of services to entice firms to locate in their state. Assistance with finding good job applicants and giving them training to make them job-ready has now become part of the service package offered by most states to companies they are seeking to attract. North Carolina was the first, in 1957, using state public education facilities, to provide 'customized training tailored to meet the needs of new companies coming into the state. Other Southern states adopted the idea as a way to convince companies in the North that the'SOUthern labOr Supply; though not industrially experienced, could be brought up to a high standard. These programs proliferated throughout the country. In the late 1970s. firms that were already established in particular states began to complain that most new jobs resulted from expansion of existing firms, not from the arrival of new companies. They asked R 6 5,3 state governments to spend more time and money on them, rather than 'chasing smokestacks' in other states. This led to an extension of many state training programs for growing local companies. States added retention of finns to the list of economk development efforts during the recession of the 1990's a time when few companies were expanding. Companies in some states became eligible for training funds to upgrade skills so that they would remain in a state. States now spend almost $1 billion a year to train workers for new jobs and to upgrade the skills of those already in the workfon.... The training is usually of shott duration, though in some cases it helps companies significantly upgrade skills of selected groups of line workers. Some of these state programs also help fill specific skill shortages, such as data processing. The Current Adult Training and Employment 'System' Thc petwork ,of public, training activities in the country has thus been Created' aS a reStik of unrelated educational, social and economic development goals rather than from any overall vision of human resource development. These variow and qften unintended origins of our adult training and employment `system' have created a bewildering array of services, programs and providers. 71e Education And Training Of America 's Adult Workers neinutit qf pubic buitting nctieltim Mae coutm7 bait tbawironn ~al as a ran* of mwolnied m l a c t i t i m m t wad and economic titeelopmen t goals ranter tbassfrom nayiteetriU vision qf boon= remove development. The e various and Oen maintended origins (Wow. adult imbibe tend employment vs tette tam created a bewildering array qf services, programs and providers. , At tbe local labor market level . . . Lack qf iscformation ow provision, price and quality continually frustrates tbe quints cej employers, agency qfficials and customers to mwigate the system Tbe result is a crazy quilt of competing and overlapping policies and programs, with no coherent system of standardization or iifformation exchange services on which various providers and agencies can rely. In Michigan, for example, $800 million in combined annual state and federal funds are scattered across 70 sejittatetraining and education funding programs, administered_ by nine different departments of state government, and ofkred by innumerable local providers. In New York, 19 different units of state government distribute $725 million in iob training services through more than 85 different programs. At the local labor market level, where people seek training and employers seek workers, the picture is blurred. Lack of information on provision, price and quality continually frustrates the efforts of employers, agency officials and customers to navigate the system. Employers, government agencies and post-secondary institutions use skills classifications to plan and manage their human resmice programs. But trying to define the skill content of jobs is often an impossible task. The maze of classification systems attests to this: Seven different classification systems are used by various federal agencies and three others by the armed services. The United States Department of Labor's Dictionary of Occupational Titles, one ot theii systeitis; lists some 12,000 classifications. More than 500 national and regional private groups set standards for selected jobs. The Education And Duining Of America's Adult Workers The United States Department of labor's apprenticeship program alone utilizes 97 separate industry committees to set standards for some 384 occupations. The result is crazy quilt of-competing-- and overlapping policies and plograms, with no coherent system or standardization Of information exchange services on which various providers and agencies can rely. How has the system become ad complex? A recent Michigan task force rept* described the evolution of the mansion over the 30 years of government salvity in* employment and training as follow& "Most new programs . . . are brought forth with little attention paid to-their predecessors. Often the legislation creating programs imposes spedfic definitions, rules and administrative procedures for expenditures; only rarely are these dovetaikd with existing programs. The end result is often _ policy incoherence, administrative confusion and service delivery fragmentation.* The product of this ad hoc approach to training policy development is the treation of a maze of subsystems that are often incomprehensible to those who seek to use theM it a locallabor market leveL. .. Reform Efforts There have been reform efforts over the past decade, but the reform agenda is almost as fragmented as the current adult training . 89 3 1 efforts themselves. Initiatives over the last decade include: Increased private sector involvement through Private Industry Councils. Business leaders, elected officials and community and education leaders share responsibility for managing Programs for the disadvantaged. However, because of limited funding, these programs reach only a fraction of those eligible. Greater emphasis on basic skills for welfare clients. Although well-intentioned. itSe fedetakind state programs aimed.at skills upgrading stress iob placement rather than karning gain. ks a result. participants often receive brief training and may only be eligible for low skill, low paying jobs. Setting performance standards. Some states have called for common performance standards and a central o; ersight board to collect client and labor market information, monitor performance and influence funding. Greater use of outcome measures. To ensure accountabilit, !,,me states are beginning to use outcome measures rather than procedural requirements. Instead of job placements or graduation rates, demonstrated competencies are the benchmark. 55 90 l'hese ongoing reform effiarts have been hampered by a lack of common skills classifications that makes it nearly impossible to compare programs. Lack of agreement on how to define levels of skill mastery makes it very difficult to establish workable outcome standards. In addition, most efforts have been narrowly focused on transitional training programs for the disadvantaged rather than on building a single comprehensible system to meet the training needs of employers as well. The public and private collaboration necessary to make the market FM' tmining,operatv 4Fctive1y,for all noncollege people has been largely particular, the Job Service, at the heart of the information exchange and iob-and-training connection in other nations, has been allowed to atrophy in many American communities. Summary: The Current Situation Past-secondary training and education for the United States workforce appears to be a coliectiot of bureaucratic subsystems rather than an effective system addressing needs of employees and employers at the community level. Most of America's public training programs were intended to me-t a series of narrowly defined needs that were often unrelated to one another. They were never intended to coastitute a coherent, unified skill development system for America's frontThe Education And Training Of A .wrica's Adult Workers k No Effective system exists at tbe locsgleveljitr maictsimg employer oerdis 'oath vewdley , 'aealbsY I I development: programs. 91 The lack of standardization across tbe system makes it dfficult for workers to combine courses ix a logical sequence of advancement toward bigber skilled work k, 2 ,. line workers. No effective system exists at the local level for matching employer needs with readily available skill development programs. The lack of standardization across the system makes it difficult for workers to combine courses in a logical sequence of advancement toward higher skilled work. Most workers receive no education or training beyond high school. The vast maiority who do receive training take occasional courses that are not tied to any industry standards because such standards do not exist in the United States. Others receive some training because they are economically disadvantaged or have been dislocated from jobs. This training is usually of short duration and touches only a small number of those Wildi*ed A. , "e "e "e "e ,J A New improved System For The Future After the turn of the century, when the second industrial revolution spawned the mass production system, American industry pressured Congress to enact the SmithHughes Act, which created the American system for vocational education. This system prepared American students to work with the new machinery and in the new work systems being created. It worked well for many over time, but it has not been able to keep pace with the more rapid changes in the work place of today. Me Education And Training Of America's Adult Woileeis If this Commission is right, we are embarking on a third industrial revolution. This revolution will usher in new high performance work organizations that have higher skill requirements than exist loday. Our current adult training policies are ill-equipped to meet this challenge. A comprehensive employment and training policy will be required to do for this revolution in work organization what the Vocational Education Act aimed to do for the last revolution. The change to high performance work organization, and thus the increase in the demand for skilled workers, is largely in thx hands of employers who must decide which route to take. and Ein,effective okarkgtfP,r,Jrining will The increased supply of, require new institutions and pubhc-pnvate sharing of responsibility. As we shall see in the next chapter, our major competitors already have such systems in place. P 3 56 VOICES FROM ABROAD hoJapast, we value ail (lour workers. We pay oar assembly worlter tbe same as our engineer, and we provide him with tbe same amount qf training Amerka is now more a comity qf econostk hierarchy tbaaJapam. apanese plant manager America is not the only nation trying to maintain high living standards while competing with low wage nations. Germany, Japan, Sweden, Denmark and other advanced industrial countries with high ,,AAgeskites,face,the same challenge. Here, however, the simirakritY: ShipS-. 'While- - America has had a negative trade balance of more than $100 billion annually for the pas: six years. Germany and Japan hme enjoyed highly positive balances. Sweden's and Denmark's trade balances have been al)out even. Each of these nations has maintained higher rates of productivity growth than the United States, and their living standards and real wages have been rising steadily. Pay differentials between the college 57 4 1 -1 -1 Other Nations Pay High Wages And SdR maatain A Pc Adve Wade Wince 00_8111.03 SO 00 an 461.434 Bla66.112 w in 0332 Minim? Teadelialattcc, k . ,k. \ ,', \./ \/ \ ,\., \ , e Averagewages Hour4r -r,132.941 i \ Five Year Average Trade balance and Average Hourly Wage for Production Workers in Selected Countries Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics international Monetary Fund Voices From Abroad %. k. \d k. 9 5 These nations, while sociallY and culturally distinct, share a strong commitment to maintaining a bigb skilL bigb wage economy for all of their people. Implementation varies widely in eacb of tbese countries. But eacb maintains coherent, highly systematic structures to stimulate both the supply of and the demand for highly skilled workers. , - 9 6 educated and non-college educated are narrower, and the distribution of income is less skewed than in the United States. Other Nations' Are *bins FastelPPCn Ours 14% 12% 10% 8% 6%i 4% 2% n 14.0 11.6 &3 6.2 6.8 United States pe *Pan s an NIC's* Annual Growth in Compensation for Production Shrkers in Selected Countries 1975-1988 N.- The Acifly*Opstilalized Countries of Singapore, Hongkonitdfiat Milt:111nd Taiwan\ ,. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics i ,1: e+ l'IWII . ibngid How Are These Nations Coping? These nations, while socially and culturally distinct, share a strong commitment to maintaining a high skill, high wage economy for all of their people. They also agree on certain fundamental principles concerning how to achieve this goal: Academic expectations are high for all young people. Both college bound and non-college bound students attain high standards of educational achievement. Well developed school-to-work transition programs prov.de young people with solid, recognized occupational skills. The skills of front-line workers are highly valued. Companies and governments are committed to providing lifelong training and employment opportunities to the average worker. Public labor market agencies provide valuable training, information and placement services for all workers. Government, business and the general society agree on the need to actively promote adoption of high performance work organizations. Implementation varies widely in each br - these countries. But each maintains coherent, highly systematic structures to stimulate both the supply of and the demand for highly skilled workers. 9 7 58 Basic Education Every country we visited requires and makes an effort to ensure tha; its young people obtain bask proficiency in educational fundamentals (language, mathematics, geography, history, science and the arts). Equal access to a quality education is critical for success. Disadvantaged areas (such as northern Sweden) and districts with problem populations get the most funds for education. National curricula and nationally or regionally standardized testing systems help set standards and reduce the variation in quality among schools. In Sweden, Denmark and Japan, students of mixed ability are generally kept in the same classcs until they choose a career path at age 16. Tracking is uncommon. The underlying assumption in all of thest countries is that every student can be educated to be a productive worker in a high wage, high skill society. Society makes it hard for students to fail. In Japan, students who fall behind are required to spend extra time on weekends. evenings and during vacations to catch up. In Sweden, students who drop out are pursued and strongly encouraged to study in alternative learning environments attached to local youth centers. In Germany. remedial education is provided in apprenticeship programs to ensure mastery of basic learning skills. 59 PS School-To-Work Transition Extensive occupational preparation programs, combining general education with worksite training, provide foreign employers with high skilled, work ready youth and offer young people a smooth trans;tion from school to working life. In most of the countries we studied, schools begin early to prepare young people for working life. Students in Denmark, Germany and Sweden begin.learning about occupations in the seventh grade from local employers and labor market representatives who visit the schools. Swedish children make field trips to workplaces and are required to complete 10 weeks of summer employment by age 16. After they finish compulsory school at age 15 or 16, the majority of young people in Germany, Sweden and Denmark enter a two- to four-year professional program to prepare them for working life. In Germany, young people enter one of 380 formal apprenticeship programs and receive training in a company four days a week. In Sweden and Denmark, most of the instruction is provided in school, but students also participate in workplace training. Most of the The important structural change for industry is in tbe mind, It's training not macbinety. Swedish CEO Voices From Abroad The underlying assumption in ail Outs countries is tba evety student ass be educated to be a praise:Sim worker in a high wage, high sltillsociety. Extensive occupational preparatior programs, combistktg general education with works** training, provide fbreign employers with high skilled work ready youth and offer young people a smiWb-freussitionfrom schoolto working life. Ver they finish compulsory scbool at age 15 or 14 tbe majority of young people in Germany, Sweden and Denmark enter a two- to four-year professional program to prepare tbemfor working l(fe. t ) 9 Repres;entatives from refer's', industry councils and unions design national stamiards for the programs, c:ert#0 training providers, assess petformance and certe completion. Employers, knowing that students who graduate from tbe system bare the skills they seek, are glad to hire them. Students, seeing a direct relationship between school and work, are motivated to karn 100 programs are designed, if combined with the appropriate general education courses, to allow the student to continue on to college or a variety of higher technical and commercial programs. Unlike tbe United States, Germany bas no natural resoenves. Our main capital is busman capitaL Maintaissitg a blgb standard tiquality in our laboribrce guarantees our social welfare. On tbis point everyone is agreed Minister of Culture, Bavaria Whether the training is provided mainly in the workplace or in the school, a common thread runs throughout the European workforce training systems: Study is provided in a wide range of occupatioas across industries, from auto repair and construction to food service and banking. Education generally combines school and work based learning and participants spend a certain portion of their studies training on the job. Companies and unions provide workplace training and maintain strong connections with the schools. Some firms in Sweden and Germany have even set up their own schools to attract highly qualified prospective job applicants. Voices From Abroad Representatives from relevant industry councils and unions design national standards for the programs, certify training providers, assess performance and certify completion. Students are assessed in performance based and written eximinationi. 'Those who meet the standards set by industry are recognized as skilled workers in the trade. Employers, knowing that students who graduate from the system have the skills they seek, are glad to hire them. Students, seeing a direct relationship between school and work, are motivated to learn. Unlike these central European systems, the Japanese emphasize general education. Although vocatkinal schools are available to Japanese students, the maiority complete high school in general education programs. Many companies hire for life, and Japanese employers, as a result, tend to place greater emphasis on a student's general learning ability and performance in school. Specific joh related skills are provided by the company throughout the individual's working life. Subsuntial orientation training, which may last for years, replaces the apprenticeship systems which exist in Europe. Virtually all Japanese students are handed over 101 60 from a school 'family' to a work 'family' in a seamless transition requiring little external assistance. We bewe natural resources; no mill- tar. y power. We have only one resource dm inventive capacity q four brain& ft bas no limits. We moist make use qf We most abscat4 Ira* equip. In tbe nearfktum this metnal power wilt become tbe most creative common roost qf at humanity. Head, Japanese Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidranmn) The labor Market System All four countries maintain comprehensive public labor market systems to assist adult workers in finding appropriate training and employment. In contrast to the United States, where public training and job information programs only serve a limited population, the systems abroad reach the majority. The foreign labor market services are carefully integrated, providing a 'one stop shop' for training and employment needs: employment placement, training and income maintenance for the unemployed and the exchange of labor market information. The systems are extremely well funded and play a critical role in their nation's overall economic strategies. 61 102 The labor market seivices are generally integrated under a single agency (or two related agencies, in the case of Sweden) and governed by a tripartite board of government, company and union representatives. The labor market service is funded either through the unemployment insurance system (Germany and Japan) or a special payroll tax (Sweden and Denmark). Unemployment insurance systems in these countries are often coordinated with training programs. Typically, unemployment insurance is paid only as a stipend to those in training or, as a last resort, after training has taken place. In some cases, the training may be provided directly by a government training center, as in Sweden and Denmark, or the agency may pay for training offered by a private provider, as in Germany. While in full-time training, workers are provided with the equivalent of the normal unemployment benefit to support themselves. Training is high quality and long term. For dislocated workers who are changing occupations, this may mean receiving training for two years or more. A crucial responsibility of the public labor market agencies is to gather and disseminate information about the status of the labor market. Germany, Sweden, Denmark and japan all employ elaborate market information services to guide policy and Vokes From Abroad atitlbotr canaries maistain catypreheasim pails beer mirk* spasm teassist WON* appreprille traislugamt empleyinent. . . . tb. systems &lamed reads sbernmilarii;---7111efbreigirlabor searlost services are carfyidly inagratesg providiag a 'one stop shop' Jar :minim and employment needs. 103 Leading foreign firms spend up to six percent of payroll on training and devote a significant share of their effort to their front-line workers. 1n4 direct their more active programs. Typically, the information service gathers data (-41 employers needs in local labor markets. the skills which are available, and areas with surpluses and shortages. This informatio , then used by the service to determine what types of training t Irovide and to match unemployed workers to available jobs. Company Training Leading foreign firms spend up to six percent of payroll on training and devote a significant share of their effort to their frontline workers. Large German companies provide their workers with a wide range of free courses, either at company training centers or at outside institutions. Small German businesses pool their resources and operate external training centers through industry associations or local Chambers of Commerce. Japanese companies focus on shop floor training through formalized job rotation and instruction programs. Government promotes in-company training to varying degrees in each k ,' t ;e countries. In Denmark, where the economy is dominated by small businesses, the government often provides training to companies free of charge. Sweden's national training centers and 'renewal funds' encourage companies to train. Companies are required to contribute a certain percentage of their payroll to the funds, but may later withdraw the money to finance training approved by the government and unions. t cute% troy. ' ' 'n VS I've toured a member qf educational systems in Europe and tbe United States. Tbe biggest question is always bow to convince companies to *end tbe money on wafting. Ii Germany, ibis is not questioned Everyone does it, and everyone knows bow &spotlit* 1 _it is for "Made in Germany." German training directbr Similar principles guide Singapore's Skills Development Fund and the Irish Levy-Grant system. Organization Of Work European and Japanese companies in most industries are further advanced than American companies in the development of high productivity forms of work organization. The leading firms, particularly those in manufacturing and retail, have now been experimenting with rew processes and work cultures for a decade or more. Swedish and Danish firms are perhaps the most advanc,--i in adopting cooperative forms of work organization. Today, companies across many industries are using selfdirected multi-skilled teams, expanding the skill content of jot, providing continuing training and empowering workers to make day-to-day decisions. Workers are also consulted on all major investment and work organization decisions. 1e5 62 It used to take 700 people putting their bands on to build a single car. Now it takes 21A tidy() executilv German work practices emphasize individual worker autonomy and the mastery of high level skills. Workers help plan the work organization and are consulted on major work related investments and plans. Japanese firms stress collective worker participation in shop floor decisions, though in a paternalistic fashion. Broad based job rotation is commonplace. and managers spend most of their time on the shop floor. Japan has virtually abc)lished the hourly wage versus salary distinction and bases compensation for almost all employees on We've tried to build a system wbicb allows tbe people to control tbe materials, not vice versa. Former l'oh'o execultt'e seniority. (Shop floor employees with levels of seniority comparable to the professional workforce may r. m as much as salesmen and engineers.) Particular work organization models vary by country, but the outcome is the same: greater responsibility and earning power for the average worker. Why Are Foreign Companies Choosing High Skills? Foreign managers do not adopt new forms of work organization because they are more altruistic or more far-sighted than American firms. Most foreign companies choose high productivity models in response to a variety of external and labor inalket pressures. National full employment policies, tight labor markets, government lal)or regulations, strong union movements, high wages and a highly skilled workforce all provide incentives for foreign employers to choose the high productivity path. In Japan, Sweden and Singapore, official public commitments to full employment limit the ability of employers to lay off workers. These polics create a tight labor market, making it difficult for employers to attract new employees. Broader job definitions. attractive career paths and better work conditions can give them an edge in hiring. In Sweden, Denmark and Germany, companies are required by law to consult with unions before they can lay off workers. Throughout Europe, requirements of timely notice and severance pay strongly discourage layoffs. Employers therefore have strong incentives to invest in their workers and provide training and good career tracks. 6 I t olCCN HIM1 Abroad European and Japanesecompanies in most industries are Anther advanced than American companies ii, tbe development qf bigb productivity forms qf work organization Partkular work ortganization models vary by country, but tbe outcome is tbe same: greater responsibility and earning power for the average worker. 1n7 . . . the higher education and skill levels offoreign workers make it both nes7essary and possible for foreign companies to adopt new forms of work organization. But higher education levels also mean that workers are less willing to tolerate traditional forms of work 1n8 Other Nations Invest More In Employment And Training Policies Finlaib German Canad Australl Austri Unite S$atc Norwa _ 1.1 7 3.4 4.8 2.6 2.3 Sil II=11 3.0 1.7 Ii 2.5 DIUI 0.3 xi i 0.2 ming 1 0 . . ,. i 0 Active . . sire Costs . 1 4 0.7 Costs 111 0 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% Expenditure on Labor Market Programs in 1987 as a % of GDP *Passive includes mainli uwtemderloy- ment insurance, active mainly training and Job counseling Source: Swedish Labor Board High wage levels, due in part to union pressure and national income policies, also force companies to achieve higher levels of productivity either through increased training or new forms of work organization. ()it e.s tr)ll/ . brrmld Finally, the higher education and skill levels of foreign workers make it both necessary and possible for foreign companies to adopt new forms of work organization. Strong occupational preparation allows workers to handle more complex work as.signments and greater front-line responsibilities. But higher education levels also mean that workers are less willing to tolerate traditional forms of work. Swedish education reforms in the 1960's that drastically raised education requirements also precipitated high rates of absenteeism ir Swedish factories. Young workers, bored by traditional factory work, opted to stay at home. This caused manufacturing employers, in particular, to reorganize work in order to increase job content, with the aim of attracting workers. Them And Us While these nations differ in economy and culture, they share an approach to the education and training of their workers and to high productivity work organization that we lack: They insist that virtually all of their students reach a high educational standard. We do not. They provide 'professionalized' education to non-college educated workers to prepare them for their trades and to ease their school-to-work transition. We do not. 64 This is the reason for the great expansion ofilirther education in Germany right now. Germany is fighting to bold a quality edge over countries like Korea and japan not so much with tbe United States. The problem with tbe United States is that there are too many people in college and not enough qualified workers. The United States bas outstanding universities, but it is missing its middle. Too mucb training takes place on the job, and therefore is too unsystematic German executrix, They operate comprehensive labor market systems which combine training, labor market information, job search and income maintenance for the unemployed. We do not. They support company based training through financing sche.nes based on general revenue or payroll tax. We do not. They have national consensus on the importance of moving to high productivity forms of work organization and building high %%age economies. We do not. 65 110 America stands out among advanced nations as having a unique set of approaches to education, training, school-to-work transition and overall labor market policy. Our approaches have served us well in the past. They will not serve us well in the future. Voices From Abniad America stands oat amen advauted nations as having a unitise :get of approaches to education, trataivg, schoot-towork transition and overall labor market policy. Our approaches have served us well in tbe past. They will not serve us well in the jkture. 111 8 THE CHOICE Americans are unwittingly making a choice. It is a choice that most of us would probably not make were we aware of its consequences. Yet every day, that choice is becoming more difficult to reverse. It is a choice which undermines the American dream of economic opportunity for all. It is a choice that will lead to 'in America where 30 percent of our two* may do well at least for a while but the other 70 percent will see their dreams slip away. The choice that America faces is a choice between high skills and low w ages. Gradually, silently. w e are choosing low wages. The choice is being made by companies that cut wages to remain competitive. It is being made by public officials who fail to prepare our children to be productive workers. Ultimately, we are all making the choice by silently accepting this course. We still have tinle to make the other choice one that will lead us to a more prosperous future a choice for high skills, 112 not low wages. To make this choice, we must fundamentally change our approach to work and education: Today, we demand too little of those students not headed for college. Tomorrow, we must demand high performance from all students, even those not going on to college. Today, we shrug our shoulders as over 20 percent of our students more than 50 pe-cent in the inner cities drop out of schools. Tomorrow, we must ensure that all young people get the education they need to succeed. Today, we blame schools for not providing the type of workers employers want, yet employers are rarely involved in student's education and training. Tomorrow, we must share responsibility with the schools for defining standards of professional competence and take the lead in helping students cross the bridge from school to work. Me Choice , 1., 11- The choice that America faces is a choice between high skills and low wages. Gradually, silently, we are choosing low wages. The choice is being made by companies tbat cut wages to remain competitive. It is being made by pub& officials who fail to prepare our children to be productive workers. Illtimate&, we are all making the choice by silent& accepting this course. We still have time to make the other choice . . . a choice for big!, skills, not low wages. 1 1 3 We will be successful if our work kindles a debate that leads to acti,m, however formsdate4 that sets America firmly on a high skill, high wage course. 1 1 4 Today, we stop educating our non-college hound youth at 18 they must sink or swim with the skills they have acquired by that age. Tomorrow, we must create a means for students not going to college and for people already in the workforce to acquire and renew the technical and professional skills they need for high productivity work. Today. we limit our public lal)or policies to temporary income maintenance and minimal training for the poor and unemployed. Tomorrow, we must expand those policies to embrace skill development for all workers. Today, we don't seem to care if companies choose to compete by cutting wages or by increasing productivity and quality. Tomorrow, we must provide incentives for the.high productivity, high quality choice. Our Commission members share a deep concern about the future that America is choosing. If America is to remain prosperous, fundamental changes are needed in the way work is organized and in the way Are educate and train our people. The Choice We hope and expect that others will examine our proposals carefully. But success, in our view, is not necessarily tied to the adoption of our precise plan. We will be successful if our work kindles a debate that leads to action, however formulated, that sets America firmly on a high skill, high wage course. 1 1 5 68 9 THE FOUNDATION SKILLS Recommendation 1111 A new educational performance standard sboodd be set for all students, to be met by age 16 This standard sboodd be established nationally and bettamarked to tbe highest in the world All of our students should meet a national standard of educational excellence by age 16, or soon thereafter, which will equal or exceed the highest similar standard in the world for students of that age. A student passing a series of performance based assessments that incorporate the standard should be awarded a Certificate of Initial Mastery. In order to adequately prepare our young people for working life, we must first see that they acquire the educational skills necessary to become effective players in a highly productive society. The establishment of a system of national standards and assessment would ensure that every student leaves compulsory school with a demonstrated ability to read, write, compute and perform at world-class levels in general school subjects (mathematics, physical and natural sciences, technology, history, geography, politics, economics and English). Students should also have 69 1 1 6 exhibited a capacity to learn, think, work effectively alone and in groups and solve problems. Among other things, the Certificate of Initial Mastery would certify labor market readiness, and a mastery of the basic skills necessary for high productivity employment.' The same Certificate would also be required for entry into all subsequent rorms of education, including college preparatory and certified professional and technical programs. The assessment system would establish objective standards for students and educators, motivate students and give employers an objective means to assess the capabilities of job applicants. The Certificate of Initial Mastery would not indicate the completion of a student's formal education. Rather, for the vast majority of students, this achievement would serve as a foundation for more advanced forms of education or training. Effort Based Education And Assessment The United States is the most over-tested and under-examined nation in the world. Most of the tests that American students take Me Foundation Skills Schematic leprapentadon Of The Commission's Proposals Ism -Awry idlest Itoolk / 111emesorr Ilk MbIde Wool "" 11 7 AU of our students sboukl meet a national standard of educational excellence by age 16, or soon thereafter, which will equal or exceed tbe highest similar standard in the world for students of tbat age. A student passing a series of performance based assessments tbat incorporate tbe standard should be awarded a Certificate of Initial Mastery. The assessment system would establish objective standards for students anti educators, motivate students and give empkrers an objective means to assess the camtbilities ttfjob applkants. 1 1 8 standardized achievement tests and college entrance tests are deliberately decoupled from the school curriculum. Teachers are not supposed to prepar students directly for these tests, and students are not supposed to study for them (except in 'cram tourses' that few believe have lasting educational value). As a result of this testing system. American education does not clearly reward academic effort on the part of either teachers or students. An examination based assessment system would fundamentally change this situation. At the heart of such a system would be a series of performance based examinations for which students can explicitly prepare. (The type of amessment system we have in mind is detailed in Supporting Information I.) A Cumulative Assessment System The assessment system should allow students to collect credentials over a period of years. perhaps beginning as early as entrance into the middle school. Thi. kind of umulative assessment has se% eral achantag...s over a single series of examinations. !: ould help to organi/e and motivate students over an extended perio(.I of time. Rather than pieparing for a kir-oft examination (the form and demands of which a 1 2-% ear-old can only dimly imagine). students could begin early to collect cpecific certificam Ponntlawm Orliss It would provide multiple opportunities for success rather than a single high-stakes moment of possible failure. Cumulative certificates would greatly enhance the opportunity for the undeieducated and unmotivated to achieve high educational standards. All could earn credentials at their own pace, as the for any specific credential would not vary, regardless of the student's age. It would allow students who are not performing well in the mainstream education system to elm their credentials under other institutional auspices. An Independent Examining Organization To set the assessment standards and certification procedures, we recommend the establishment of an independent national examining organization that bn)adly represents educators. employers and the citizenry at Urge The organiration should be authorized to convene working commissions in a variety of knowledge and skill areas to help train judges. set and assess standards and conduct examinations. The organization should be independent of st.hools and school systems and protected from political pressures. 70 10 UNIVERSAL MASTERY OF THE FOUNDATION SKILLS Recommendation #2 Tbe states should take responsibility for assuring that virtually all students achieve a Cert(ficate of Initial Mastery. Through tbe new local Employment and Training Boards, the states, with Federal assistance, should create and fund alternative learning environments for tbose wbo cannot attain tbe Certtficate of Initial Mastery in regular schools. It is not enough to establish a high performance standard It is essential that e\ eryone meets it. Abo\ e all. we must a\ oid creating a system of educational 'haves. and 'have nots in w hidi some students attain the Certificate of Initial Mastery w Me others are permanentl relegated to the backw aters of our society. The purpose of the Certificate is to impro\ e the lifetime education and emplo\ ment opportunities of all students, not to exacerbate the problems that already exist. Not all students \\ ill meet the standard at the age ot 16. Some \\ ill achieve it earlier. They should ha\c the optic.. of ad\ ancing immediately to further education or training. Others may remain in school until age 18 120 before they earn their Certificate of Initial Mastery. But some will drop out of school along the way. What should happen to them? Local Youth Centers: The Dropout Recovery System We recommend that the states, through the new local Employment and Training Boards (described in a later chapter), establish local Youth Centers. These Centers woukl be legally responsible to the Boards for all young people between the ages of 1-t and 21 who have left school before acquiring their Certificates of Initial Mastery. Wally, there should be a Youth Center in every community or neighborhood. The first priority of the Youth Center w ould be to ensure that every young person attains the Certificate. The Center should provide a supportive, family-like environment. Young peop!.4 would have year-round access to basic education in alternative settings, employment and career counseling, work experience and job placement. The Center would provide these services by maintaining strong liaisons with employers and connections with the full range of . I Inagua Masloy qf me hnindatum Awl, Schematk Representation Of The Commission's Proposals Sforldorce / Local Training Board , vr' IlinnlisSaily Certifkate of Initial Mastery Elementary & Middle School 121 We recommend tbat tbe states, tbrougb tbe new log:al Employment and Training Boards . . . establish local Youth Centers . . . The first priority of tbe Youth Center Would be to ensure tbat every Young person attains tbe Certificate. . . . work experience and Job placement. The' Center would provide tbese services by maintaining Atrong liaisons with employers . . . The Center should employ alternate learning techniques that are responsive to different learning styles. Many of the best existing programs emphasize learning by doing often on a fob . . . 122 community health and social service agencies. A strong mentoring network would be fostered to provide positive role models for the Center's participants. A Center might extend its services in a number of ways. At one end of the spectrum, the Center could provide all or most of the core services itself. Or, it could contract with a range of providers. including public, private. for-profit and not-for-profit organizations (including schools) to supply many of its services. Some programs already in :xistence can point the way (see Supporting Information II). The Center should employ alternate learning techniques that are responsive to different learning styles. Many of the best existing programs emphasize learning by doing often on a job as well as use of computer based instruction. These techniques and many others could be adapted to suit individual circumstances. Building The Connection Between Work And Education For Young People Who Do Not Have Their Certificates Today, the motivation to achieve in high school is often overshadowed by the money a job can provHe. Students who drop Out of school, or who merely maintain a physical presence long enough to obtain a diploma (doing as little work as Ex ;sible), often get jobs to have spending money. They see no economic benefit to more schoolwork. They are often right. The most effective way to get young people to achieve their educational qualifications is to establish clear signals that their education will have genuine value and to create positive consequences for effort and success. Vague homilies on the importance of learning will not work. The lack of any clear, direct connection between education and employment opportunities for most young people is one of the most devastating aspects of the existing system. That kind of connection will only occur for many students in the Youth Centers if local employers organize to provide job opportunitie: for them. Business compacts and individual companies across the nation already give preference in hiring to young people who stay in school. We strongly urge extension of such initiatives to establish employment and training options for Youth Center enrollees. Guaranteeing the right to a good education to every young American and providing positive links between educational achievement and jobs are essential to the creation of an educated nation. However, we recognize that some young people will still not exercise their right. Thus, success must -Also depend on placing an obligation on young people to learn. 173 1 mimed MiWery Qf Me Fmmdanon Ska 72 Once Youth Centers are established, we propose that the child labor laws be amended to make the granting of work permits to young people up to age 18 contingent on either their possession of a Certificate of Initial Mastery, or their enrollment in a program leading to the Cr.'ificate. At first glance, this may seem draconian. But, in the long run, this requirement will benefit our youth and ultimately the nation. If our future workers do not possess the education and skills signified by the Certificate of Initial Mastery, they will be condemned to dead-end jobs that leave them in poverty even if they are working. The $4 per hour they can earn at age 16 might seem appealing compared to no earnings, but if that is all they are equipped to earn at age 30, the appeal will be gone. In 'nigh unemployment areas, where th-: prospect of earning money while going to the Youth Center program is slight, we suggest that the stat s and Federal government, through the Y nith Center. provide paid work-study arrangements. (Safeguards can be created to prevent displacement of the existing adult workforc: and to protect labor standards.) In certain cases where such work would create particular hardships, stipends for needy students should be considered. Preschool Preparation And School Restructuring No nation can expect to meet a world education standard when one out of five of its children lives in poverty. That problem will not be eliminated overnight. In the meantime, it is essential to address the worst effects of poverty among children. Much can be accomplished through the extension of effective child development programs to more children in need, a problem on which the administration and the Congress have made a start. It will also be critically important to improve the health of young, lowincome children, especially the growing number born addicted to drugs. We have not studied these problems in detail, but we recognize that our aspirations require their solution. To say that we cannot reach a world education standard without addressing the problem of poverty is not, however, to say that the schools cannot be held accountable for poor student performance. The record shows that some inner city and rural schools serving very poor children produce high levels of student achievement. If standards are raised and nothing is done to improve our schools, the Youth Centers might become catchment areas for a swiftly growing number of students. This is not our ;ntention. The success of our proThe lack qf any clear, direct connection between edam lion and employment opportunities for most yosurg people is one of the most devastating aspects qf the existing system. That kind qf connection will only occurjbr marry students ix the Youth Centers Vocal employers organize to provide fob opportunities for thew Once Youth Centers are established, we propose that tbe child labor laws be amended rn make tbe granting of work permits to young people up to age 18 contingent on either their possession of a Certificate of Initial Mastery, or their enrollment in a program leading to the Certificate. 1 24 7.3 unimrsal Mastery Of The Foundatron Stalls 1 25 No: until there are real rewurds for school staffs whose students succeffl and real consequences for those whose students do not can we stile!), assume that erelything possible is being done to help all children succeed in schoo; 126 posals will depend on the schools doing a much better job of educating all students. High standards alone will not ensure that outcome The schools like our businesses also need to be restructured for high performance by pushing decisions down to die school staff and then holding die staff accountable for student performance. As matters now stand, teachers ofter lack the discretion they need to be able to bring eryone up to a high standard. But they also lack the incentive to make the effort. Not until there are real rewards for school staffs whose students succeed and real consequences for those whi)se students do not can 'we safely assume that everything possible is being done to help all chiklren su(ceed in school. Incentives For Schools To Retain Potential Dropouts Nlam hool districts are making substantial efforts to improve the education of low inLome students but ha\ e little success simpl because they lack the necessary funds A number of the countries we visited address tlus problem by making sure that se !,chool districts serving the rxmrest hiklren and those in sparsely populated areas are funded at the highest levels. Their lull erN(l 1 1 gen ( )/ ,),mthim sk objective is not to provide 'foundation' aid that can be supplemented by those communities in the best position to do so, as in the United States, but rather to be sure that everyone has what it takes to get up to the same high performance standard. If the United States followed these countries' examples, it is very likely that enrollment in the Youth Centers would fall as the districts became better able to meet the needs of students in trouble. Funding The Youth Centers The Youth Centers we have proposed must have the funds they need to succeed. School districts would be required to notify the nearest Youth Center about any student who drops out The school district would transfer to the Youth Center the average perpupil expenditure (including all state and Feckral funds) that the school would have reieived for that student. Payment would continue until the student receives the Certificate of Initial Mastery or reaches age 21, w hichever collies first. This structure creates a powerful incentive for schools and gm ernments to develop programs to retain and educate their students properly the first time. Dropouts are expensive for America. A high percentage of student dropouts abuse drugs, conunit crimes, are unemployed or must rely on welfare Many become teenage parents. More than 60 percent of the people (,) in our prisons are high-school dropouts. On average, it costs more than $16.0(X) per year to keep prisoners housed compared with less than $4,300 for a year ot high school. In 1989 approximately 800,000 16-yearokls dropped out of high school. To support them in the schools would have cost about $3.4 billion per year. To educate those dropouts in Youth Centers would probably be more expensive because many have special needs. If we added a premium of 20 percent for every dropout attending a Youth Center program. and if i', took two extra years in a Youth Center to attain the Certificate of Initial Mastery, the Youth Center system would cost about $8.2 billion per year. This is a small pric: to pay to assure that every dropout in the nation acquires the skills and competencies necessary to lead a productive! work life. If we hope to remain a competithe and productive economy. we cannot afford to lose 20 to 23 percent of our future workers: we must begin taking responsibilit for them, Who is going to pa) We twee proposed that the sche)oi distucts de, so, but it is unreasemable to expect beleaguered inner cities and rural communities to pay the additional costs of dropout recoc ery without hdp from outside the community. That help should he forthcoming from both state and 1 s -5 Federal governments. Some may come from reallocating funds that now go to wealthier districts, but the most likely source will be new revenues. Either way, the sum, though substantial, is smoll in relation to the certain gain. tilretsa/ uusterrcy /14, Aff we hope to remahe a competitive and productive economy, we caomot qfford to lose 20 to 25 percent qf our future workers,. we must beghe taking responsibility for tbem 129 11 TECHNICAL AND PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION Recommendation #3 A comprehensive system of Technical atsd Professional Cert(ficates and associate's degrees should be created for tbe majority of our students and ads& workers wbo do not pursue a baccalaureate degree. Our goal is to establish a structure that will give our front-line workers the systematic skills, professional qualifications and respeci that their counterparts enjoy in other countries. The system we propose would also provide a clear structure for young people to mdke a smooth transition from school to work. It would offer them clear routes to a variety of career qualifications. opportunity for work based learning and an alternative path to college. Technical and Professional Certificates would be offered across the entire range of service and man ifacturing occupations. A student could earn the first occupationspecific certificate after completing two to four years of combined work and study. depending upon the field. A sequence of 130 advanced certificates, attesting to mastery of more complex skills, would be available and could be obtained throughout one's career. This proposal contains four elements: 1. Performance based assessment standards should be established for iolr covering the broad range of occupations in the United States that do not require a baccalaureate degree. Achievement of standards would result in awards of Technical and Professional Certificates and associate's degrees for various mastery levels. The standards, at least equal to those set by other advanced industrialized countries, should be set by national committees convened by the Secretary of Labor. 2. High schools, community colleges, proprietary schools and other educational and training institutions should be encouraged to offer courses leading to the Technical and Professional Certificates and associate's degrees. Programs and their providers should be accredited by state hoards of higher and vocational education. 7iximical .4nd Professional Education 131 A National Board fill. Professional and Technical Standards should be established . ftol . develop a national system qf ind.istry based standards and certifications qf mastery across a broad range qf occupations. Industry and trade based committees appointed ky the Board would develoo vtaWdards for each industty ul trade. 132 3. Employers should puw ide part-time work and training as part of the curriculum in each certification course and reward those ho attain the certificates with higher quality jobs and better pay. 4 The ..tote k. and the Federal government shoukl furnish four years of financing to all Americans to allow them to pursue education beyond the Certificate of Initial Mastvry at some point in their adult lives. A system of industry based skill .:ertifications li:ts a number of attractive katures It woukl facilitate communicati, n between schools and industry about employer and union expectatkm, and goals. By setting criteria for hiring it would help employers find qualified applicants For employees, it ould establish clear knowledge and skill based standards fiif career progres,ion, help pro ent hiriug, discrimination and improve the transferability of skills. Einall, fiif gmernment, a system of skill based certificatm V ould ofF:r an independent means of assessing the competence of training deliverers. The Certification System A National Board for Professional and Technical Standards should be established by the Secretary of Labor with the cooperation of the Secretaries of Commerce and Education This 13()ard. ctmiposed of distinguished ,_presentatiN es of ;.mployers, unions, education and atkocac groups would develop a Al bilk (I/ Ohl l'Ifple1(dial I thrtalum national system of industry based standards and certifications of mastery across a broad range of occupations. Industry and trade based committees appointed by the Board would develop standards for each industry and trade. Each Commiucc would build upon existing certification procedures, and develop a single coherent and internationally competitive set of assessments to guide career progression within each industry or trade. The Program The occupational certification programs would be open both to students (as soon as they receive their Certificates of Initial Mastery) and adult workers. The assessment standard for a program would be the same for both adults and students, although the delivery meL:.anism and curricular details might vary. Each occupational pn)gram should combine school and work based learning and balance general education and industry specific requirements. Clear qualifications and career progressions should be established with'n each occupation. Witl appropriate labor standards and other safeguards, the work component of these programs could provide industry with the temporary and part-time workers they sec l.. allowing them to give their full-time wort-ers greater stability. For students, these jobs would provick. valuable work experience and some income. 133 -8 The system shoukl offer mobility. both horizontally among occupations and \ erti- (-ally into options for further training or study Above all. it must be designed to avoid dead ends. Young people who succeed in one of these programs should receive a high-school diploma or an associate's degree, and should qualify to enter college or a variety of advanced techn;- cal or professional programs A sample four-year curriculum to prepare manufacturing pniessionals ccnild include English. math. histon. statistics. computer programming. co )mmunications. physics. chenustn and operations analysis It coukl also include industry specific subjects such as introducton courses in mechanical. electrical, chemical and electronic machinery: instrumentation and testing pnicedures. cost accounting; industrial design, and imenton , process and statistical qiulity control. A young person \ ho ,:ceives a Certificate ot Initial Masten might pursue the pmgram in high school, a kwal communit) college or in a lw 0-plus-two pro )gram. indiNicluals seeking a career in retail coukl also pursue a three- ear pn Tram combining general courses \ ith occupationspecific learning. General courses might include introducton computer pr(Tramming. English and foreigr ' nguages, accounting. -9 1 4 public speaking, psychology and business. Occupation-specific courses could include retailing, inventory control, custome: relations. ordering systems, merchandising and marketing. The program might also include Options for specialization in certain products. A program in clothing retailing, for example. might include courses on how diffeient types of clothing are manufactured, fabric-c'haracteristics and care, fashion deAgn and so on. Funding Technical And Professional Education The Commission helieves s.rongly that our society should provide the resources to allow all students to pursue these Technical and Professional Certificates. No student should be discouraged from doing so for financial reasons. The ast majority of stu.lents entering these technical and professional certification programs would do so around their junior .ear in high school at age 16. A substantial amount more than s35 billion is already being spent on the education hind training of our 16- to 19-yearold population. All states guarantee free education to students in their junior and senior years of high school. These funds could be used for the first two years of college preparation courses or professional and technical education beyond the Certificate of Initial Mastery for all students. 7ec /mut/ Pnyi,volud Mucation The system should offer mobility, botb horizontally among occupations and vertically into options for further training or study. Above all, it must be designed to avoid dead ends. 1 5 The specific method (If funding chosen is not as important as tbe establishment id a means to provide universal access to serious ppofessional and technical trainingfor our non-college educated workforce. 1 q6 In addition, some states also heavily subsidize attendance at community colleges and universiCes for the 40 to 50 percent of their citizens taking post-high-school courses. These funds could be used to finance the Technical and Professional Certificate programs we propose. But the current financing systems for post-secondary students who are not studying full time for a baccalaureate dewee are inadequate and Line\ en The Commission believes these students deserve the same kind of support that four-year college student,. recen e. A mechanism should be created that provides four years of funding beyond the Certificate of Initial Mastery for eryone. That mechanism could make use of the funds already available, but it should provide a means to meet the needs of evely candidate for Technical and Professional Certificates. The needed funds could result from a modification and extension of existing programs or from new sources. At one extreme, a 'GI Bill system could he funded from general revenues to guarantee everyone four free years of education beyond the Certificate of Initial Mastery. Studies indicate that the 'GI Bill' paid for itself many tiMes Mer in increased income for America. Iir% /Mica/ .111d PrOfrsmona/ kdlic( non At the other extreme, a self-financing scheme could be created whereby the government would loan all students the funds for post-secondary professional, technical or college education and then recoup the loan through a small surcharge on an individual's income taxes over many yearS. We call upon the National Center on Education and the Economy to convene a panel of experts to make recommendations for funding the system we propose. The specific method of funding chosen is not as important as the establishment of a means to provide universal access to serious professional and technical training for our non-college educated workforce. 80 12 LIFELONG LEARNING AND HIGH PERFORMANCE WORK ORGANIZATIONS Recommendation #4 All employers should be given incentives and assistance to invest he tbe pother education and training :Ai- tbeir workers and to pursue bigb productivity forms of work organizatiott. America's productivity in the 1990's will climb only if the strategies of American employers are redraftc.d to include serious investments in work reorganization and orker training. While man) employers talk about human resource issues, t(x) few consider them to he fundamental to their organization's success To make full use of the productive p()tential of our N1 orkforce and to encourage the use of high productivity models of work organization. N1 e recommend that employers be provided ith financial incentives to train their workers and w ith the technkal assistance necessary to move toward higher producti)ity work organizations Other countries are dri)en to pursue high pnklucti)ity work because public la N1 s make it difficult to pay low N1 ages and lay off workers. National full-employment 81 :18 policies, stringent severance arm layoff notification laws, high minimum wage laws and statutes requiring union approval of management actions all motivate foreign companies to invest in their workforces. Since this is a Commission on workforce skills, we have not addressed these broader policies directly. However, other nations are also driven to high performance work organizations by laws that require companies to invest directly in the training of their workers (see Supporting Information IV). In many advanced industrial nations, laws require companies to spend between one percent and three and a half percent of their payrolls on formal training programs (beyond normal on-the-job training). Because this is required, companies are encouraged to think about how to make the best use of these funds to develop skills. In this country, only a handful of our companies invest in training. Those who do not, fear that such investment:z will be wasted, because trained employet.s will be Lifelong Learning And High Peiformance Work Organizations America's productivity in tbe 1990's will climb only (f the strategies of American employers are redrafted to include serious investments in work reorganization and worker training. . we recommend tbat employers be provided witb financial incentives to train their workers and with the technical assistance necessary to move toward higher productivity work organizations. 119 ensplayers trou'd be required to spend approximately one percent of payroll On education mul training. . . Emphiyers failing to meet this taiget imuld be required to contribute appiwximately one percent nipariwIl to a vationa.' Skills Detvlopment Fund. All companies. organizations and institutions, regardless of size or type of business. including local and state governinents and schools, would be requb-ed to participate. 140 hired away. Others simply do not see the value of significant training investment, because of the way they use their workers. Compulsion is never a popular approach to puNic policy. Playing copy-cat with the polides of other countries is not what made this country great. However, the small minority of our companies that cio invest in training, either out of competitive necessity or simply because it makes go(xt business sense, are not being treated fairly. They are carrying the national training imperative on their backs. The overriding issue is noi the economic survival of a few employers; it is the economic security of an er.tire workforce The nation will not compe:e effectiely unless all employers participate in a set of financial incentives to train their workers. An Incentive For Training And Work Reorganization American employers on average spend slightly more than one percent on formal training. 11 wever, the distribution of spending is highly skewed. A. small percentage of firms spend more than two percent, while the vast majority are well below one percent. We recommend that th Federal government require all employers to spend a minimum amount of funds annually to send their employees through certified education and training 1,rograms. In unionized workplaces, compaqies and unions should jointly negotiate ,,nd administer the training programs. Initially, employers would be required to spend approximately one percent of payroll on education and training (with the amount increasing progressively over the decade). Employers in many foreign countries are already required to invest a minimum of one percent in employee training. Companies should fund training for frontline workers in proportion to their total representation in the firm's worktbrce. Employers failing to meet this target would be required to contribute approximate4 one percent of payroll to a national Skills DeveloPment Fund. The exact amount for each organization would be calculated as a specific payment per worker, in order to ensure sufficient resources to train lower paid worker The Skills Development Fund would be used to train temporary, part-time, dislocated and disadvantaged workers whose training employers would probably not underwrite. All companies, organizations and institutions, regardless of size or type of business, including local and state governments and schools, would be required to participate. The Comniision feels strongly that this expenditure should come from employer, not employee, contributions. The contribution would thus give employers an 141 1 Ileking learnt .lud Peyomumie tt rk ONantzahons 82 incentive to reorganize work to take advantage of the higher skill levels for whirh they are paying Until the various certificate programs we propose are implemented. employers should be Allowed to use their training allotment for tuition and instructional costs for any type of organized instruction (not including direct efforts on the lob). The program should be approved by the union if there is one. After the cxcupational certification prc)grams ire established, however, we recimimend that only accredited courses that form part of a formal certification program or a college degree program he counted toward the empk,er's minimum training obligation Tying acceptable expenditures to certificate pr(Trams makes the expenditure easy to monitor, ensures that funds are not beim. spent on frix ohms actix Ines and helps emplo)ees ohtain skilk that haxe broad application. Developing emplocvs skilk, how ecer, does not necessarily lead to smooth or successful reorganization of IA ork For this reason, the Commission recommends that up to 15 percent of the funds be used for expenses associated IA ith efforts to redesign work. Acceptabk activities might include research and development on competency based training or on high productivity work reorganization. 142 Each year, employers would be asked to certify that they had met these training and education requirements, perhaps as part of the unemployment insurance tax form. No new bureaucracy would be needed and the reportin6 requirement would be minimal. California and Rhode Island, among other states, are already collecting funds for training through the unemployment insurance program. This proposal may appear burdensome to small companies that do not compete internationally or perceive no need for training. But the most equitable initiative is one that treats all companies and institutions uniformly. If employers cannot or will not make the necessary investments to train their orkers today, the government will he forced to tram them tomorrow A skilled. productive IA orkforce benefits our nation's economic well-being It is everyone's responsibility. For that reason, the Commission feek .that the proposed method for financing further training is fair and reasonable, however. other proposals might also be used For example. companies below a certain siz, might be exempted from this obligation and training for their employees could he provided through the Skills Development Fund. Another possibility is to use public funds to finance continuing educatkm and training. A third alternative would be to 1 nelong teaming .1ial High Peijonnance tt'ork Organization% . . only accredited courses that form part of a formal certification program or a college degree program (should) be counted toward tbe employer's minimum training obligation. . . . up to 15 percent of tbe funds . . . [could./ . . . be used for expenses associated with efforts to redesign work 143 Reorganizing toward higher productivity forms qf work may seem risky and even companies that are committed to this path often lack tbe information or technical expertise necessary to accomplisu the task. This is especially true for the nation's small irtsinesses. VT -e therefore make two proposals. First, that a national inftwmation and technical sert'ice be established to provide support to companies in the reorganization qf work. Secoml that national quality awards be expanded to recognize more best-practke companies. 144 create an individual training account financed hy companies and by the government. Each method has advantages and disadvantages. Here again, the details of the finance plan are less important to this Commission than the necessity of developing some means of investing in our front-line workers. Virtually every advanced industrial nation uses one or another of these methods to create a substantial fund to support the continuing education and training of workers. We are one of the few with no method and no fund at all. Incentives To Create High Performance Work Organizations Reorganizing toward higher productivity forms of work may seem risky and even companies that are committed to this path often lack the information or technical expertise necessary to accomplish the task. This is especially true for the nation's small businesses. We therefore make two proposals. First. that a national information and technical sen ice he established to provide support to companies in the reorganization of work. Second, that national quality awards be expanded to recognize more hest-practice companies. Technical Assistance For Employers The United States Department of Commerce should establish a National Clearinghouse for the Reorganization of Work and Workforce Skills Development. The Clearinghouse . would be responsible for coordinating all Federal assistance to employers and should work closely with the D-Tartments of Labor, Defense. and Education to: Disseminate information on successful forms of work reorganization across industries and types of businesses. Promote and help coordinate educational visits to successful high performance work sites. Provide a one-stop shop for firms seeking general or specific guidance and solutions to challenges encountered during the transition to new forms of work. Distribute examples of best-practice companies, as well as materials from other agencies, such as the Department of Defense's training methodologies and instructional programs. Encourage partnerships among state, local and private sector groups. The National Science Foundation should he given a mission to improve workplace practices through the development and application of new technology. I ii, long Learning .4nd Mgh Peribmance Work Organizattom 1 45 84 We endorse the establishment of a civilian technology agency in the Department of Commerce. Such an agency would, among many other functions, have the responsibility to help companies organize work so as to make the most efficient and effective use of new technologies. Federal raboratories in seve:al Cabinet departments shoukl be asked to devote greattr efforts to the commercial applications of the technologies in which they are involved and to training companies in implementing high productivity work organizations r,:la tx.1 to those technologies. The 1988 Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act established three manufacturing technology centers and provided fe- assisunce to state technology centers. These, too, could become a focal point for assessing and disseminating effective approaches to the organ'zation of work to businesses interested in making the most effective use of new manufacturh g technologies. Quality Awards To focus national attention on the issue of work reorganization, awards programs designed to recognize and promote quality, excellence, productivity and improved workplace environments should be expanded. The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award contributes significantly to the natioral awareness of quality and the reaganimtion of work. The Senate prodt hvity 85 146 a awards and F / awards also play important roles. We .,commend expansion of these awards to recognize more bestpracti,:e compinies and institutions. Hie Department of Labor has recently est-blished a new award to recognize excellence in upgrading the quality of the American workforce. We strongly urge that, as part of its criteria, the award include changes in the organization of work and their effect on worklife and employee productivity. lifelong Learning And Higi, Performance Wcrk Organizations Federal laboratories be several Cabinet departments sbould be asked to devote gmater 'JAM to tbe commercial applications qf tbe teclonologies be wbkb cbey are hem ,ed and :o training companies be impkmenting bigb produaivity work organizations related to tbose tecbnologies. 147 13 AND A SYSTEM TO PULL IT TOGETHER Recommendation #5 A system qf Employment and Training Boards should be established by Federal and state governments, together with local leadership, to organize and oversee tbe new scbool-to-work transition programs and training systems we propose. In this report, we have compared American educational and training programs to those in other industrial countries. In every case, we have found that somewhere in this country, a state, city or institution is doing something as interesting, as imaginative and as effective as anything done anywhere in the world. What is missing is a cohesive system. What we 1-.-k, and what many of our competitors hat.e, is a means of joining all the pieces together into one seamless web. Our preceding proposals lay the foundation for a cohesive, high performance education and troining system. We would reorganize the current array of programs and 1 4 S 87 institutions into a streamlined system based on two sets of goals: We expect our standards for the Certificate of Initial Mastery to drive a system of work preparation designed to bring every American, youth or adult, up to a high level of foundation skills. These standards should be applied to every program or institution concerned with baic education or literacy. This would include our current K-12 system of education, the alternative Youth Center system we propose and remedial programs for youth and adults operated through a variety of public programs. We expect our standards of technical and professional mastery to drive a system of occupational education and training designed to allov a majority of American worktrs to thrive on new technologies and work processes. These standards would apply to corporate training and to programs in high schools, community colleges and proprietary schools. Thus, no matter where the training took place, And A System To Pull It Together Progressing Through The New Structure: Four Examples t 45-Year-Old Hotel Attendant with Fifth Grade Educazion 15f) And A System To Pull It Together employers and individuals would have confidence in its quality and its transferability. The certification s stems we propose, and the tducation and training initiatives they drive, should be linked to labor market information and to job placement programs at the local and state levels. The fragmented services we now provide should be replaced by a uniform system. Employment And Training Boards The leaders of our communities shonld take responsibility for building a comprehensive system that meets their needs. The local Employment and Training Boards for each major labor market would: Take responsibility for the scho(4-to-work and '1outh Center-to-vork transition for young people. and for their further counseling on education, training and work opportunities. Manage and oversee the alternative certification system fc)r scluml dropouts through the Youth Centers. Manage and oversee a second chance system for adults seeking the Certificate of Initial Mastery. This system would be operated in conjunction with the Youth Center program, but may require separate facilities and programs for adults 152 8) Manage and oversee the system for awarding Technical and Professional Certificates at the local level. Manage a labor market information system to guide program planning. The Board would maintain a data base containing detailed information on the offerings of service providers (including their quality ex.ord and the costs of their services). It \oeld also include information concerning the number of trainees registered in all areas of training in any given year. the annual record of placements, job openings and the expected demand for hbor in all fields. Manage a labor exchange service, which would provide information, counsding and contacts for individuals sedan% job opportunities. The service would draw heavily :)n the data base just described. Coordinate existing programs concerned with job placement, vocational education, customized job training. j'IVA and weltare related job training. The Boards Y'iould be comp sed of company, union and public official, as well as representatives of community based orgar,ization:.. The Boards should also he able to competate and attract a highly professional staff. Service on the Boa* should be regarded as a mark of hign honor and membership :)n the staff should be seen as a high And A System To Pull It Together The local Employment and Training Boards for each major labor market would: Take responsibility for tbe school-to-work and Youth Center-tv-work transition for youvg people. Manage and oversee the Youth Centers. Manage and oversee a second chance system for adults seeking tbe Certificate of Initial Mastety. Manage and oversee tbe system far awarding Technical and Professional Certificates at the local leveL Manage a labor market itlformation system. Manage and oversee tbe Job service. Coordinate existing programs. 153 We envision a new more comprehensive system where skills upgrading for the majority of our workers becomes a central aim of public policy. It begins with the inidal skills preparation fyoutb and their school-towork transition. It continues with tbe operation of skills upgrading programs for adult workers who bare jobs, or are between jobs. It ties together this central mission with job information, employment counseling, job placenwn: and hiCuiiic maintenance for the unemployed 5 4 point in one's career. Boards can and should be designed to attract some of the most competent and dedicated people in the community. In cases where labor, management and the community agree they have been effective. Private Industrial Councils could be used as a base on which to build the Boards. The states would need to create a parallel structure to support the local boards, coordinate statewide functions and establish state standards for their operation. States would also need to work with each other, perhaps through an interstate compact, and with the Federal government, to make the national system work smoothly. As part of this national structure, it would be wise for the President to create a Cabinet council that would be directly responsible to the Office of the President for coordination of Federal government policy and programs relating to human resources policy. A New Approach To American Labor Market Philosophy Underlying this proposed structure is a philosophical change in the way we as a nation view human resources policies. Traditionally we have operated systems that work on the margins of our labor market, linked primarily to income maintenance And .4 Sy.stem To Pull It Together systems for the disadvantaged and dislocated workers, using short-term training as one means of assisting with job placement. We envision a new, more comprehensive system where skills upgrading for the majority of our workers becomes a central aim of public policy. It begins with the initial skills preparation of youth and their school-to-work transition. It continues with the operation of skills upgrading programs for adult workers who have jobs, or are between jobs. It ties together this central mission with job info- Jion, employment counseling, job plact.nent and income maintenance for the unemployed. It is this bold, new agenda which necessitates the creation of a more uniform system to replace the existing variety of agencies. 1 5 5 90 toward an economic cliff. longer be able to put a higher prOportiOn of our people to work to generate ecohomic growth. If basic changes are not made, real wages will continue to fall, especially for the majority who-do not graduate from four-year colleges. The gap economic 'haves' and 'have nots' will widen still further and social tensions will deepen. Our recommendations provide an alternative for America. We do not pretend that this vision will be easily accepted or quickly implemented. But we also cannot pretend that the status quo is an option. It is no longer possible to be a tugh wage, low skill nation. We have choices to make: Do we continue to define educational success as 'time in the seat,' or choose 1, new sy. tern that focuses on the denu)nstrated achievement of high standardsi Do we mntinue n) pro\ kle little iniento. for non-college students to stud\ hard and take t0tIgh stthick Is, Ut ho( )se a s\ stem that will reward real ett'ort \\ ith .ttet and better johs% 1 5 6 Do we continue to turn our backs on America's school dropouts, or choose to take responsibilky for edncating them? Do we continue to provide unskilled workers for-unskilled jobs,- or train skilled workers and give companies incentives- to deploy them in high peffonnance work organizations?, Do we continue in most companies to limit training to a select handful of managers and professionals, or choose to provide training to front-line workers as well? Do we cling to a public employment and training system fragmented by institutional barriers, muddled by overlapping bureaucracies and operating at the margins of the labor market, or do we choose a unified system that addresses itselt a illapHitv of workers% Do we Lontinue reinain indifferent the lu A\ \\ age path being ihosen b man\ Lompanies. oi do w e pro\ ide InC enti\ es tor high produiti\ it \ i hoIces! t 1 t; 0.( 1 e systems we propose provides a amigos* Ataerkan adagio* Bolty executed, it bas tbe potential not sump& to put us on as equallooting with our conspetitors, but to allow us to kap abea4 to build tbe world's premier workforce. In so doing, we will create a formidable competitive advantage. Taken-together, the Commission's recommendations provide the immewolk far Atigh quality American don and trainktit system, closely linked to high performance work system we peal:Kee American sokition. &lyji has the potential not simply to put us on an equal footing with our competitors, but to allow us to leap ahead, to build the world's premier workforce. In so doin& we Win create a formidable competitive advantage. The status quo is not an option. The choice we have is to become a nation of high skills or one of low wages. The choice is ours. It should be dear. It must be made. 1 5 8 In Conclusion I / * THE STUDY This Commission is deeply indebted to many who have studied the skills of America's workforce before us. Two recent reports stand out. Workforce 2000: Work and Workers for the 21st Century, produced by the Hudson Institute under a grant from the United States Department of Labor, made a powerful case for putting the issue of workers' skills squarely on the nation's agenda. The Forgotten Half Non-College Youth in America, a report from the William T. Grant Commission on Work, Family and Citizenship, made an eloquent plea for attention to the needs of American youth who do not go to college This is the group with which this Commission is primarily concerned. Together, these reports defined the starting point for our work. The study which supports this report was carried out by a research team of 23 loaned executives from companies, unions, industry associations and the United States Department of Labor. The work began in July of 1989 and was completed in June of 1990. Our study began in the United States, where we divided the American economy into industry groups and interviewed firms in each one. 95 Starting at the top of the firm, we asked the executives to define their market and their competitive environment, what the drivers of competitive success in their industry are, how they organize their workplaces, how their work organization is changing, what skills their workers need, what they are doing to make sure those skills are available and what government services they use. Then we went down to the shop floor, office or construction site and asked a different set of questions: How is each job defined? What 3kills are required to perform that job? How are people s assignments changing? Are managers having trouble hiring people with the needed skills, and, if so, what is being done about it? When we had completed these interviews, we went abroad to six countries: Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Japan and Singapore. There, we repeated the process on a somewhat attenuated scale, selecting and interviewing firms in a wide range of industries, asking much the same questions we had asked at home. We also conducted interviews and gathered data on the economic and human resources policies 1 60 The Study of those countries, as well as the structure and operation of their social programs, particularly those relating to education, training and other labor market policies. Here, too, we relied not just on publicly available data, but went further, interviewing people at every level of the system, from cabinet ministers to people taking courses in training centers. Gradually, we put together a cemposite picture, in some detail, of how the whole system fits togethefin each country, how values interact with policy, practice, history and demography to frame the way each nation is going about the business of developing a skilled workforce. We concentrated the next stage of our research in several states. In each of these states, we selected one or two major labor markets. Just as we had done abroad, we proceeded to put together a picture of the labor market and how it actually operates, how federal, state and local policies interact with the practice of private finas, public agencies and education and training institutions to define the American system for skill development and employer demand for skilled labor. We then drew upon the experience of a number of our Commissioners and Case Team members and asked them to prepare papers in selected fields of expertise. These included looks at the history of federal and state labor market policies; an analysis of apprenticeship and industry institute training The Study - I 6 1 models; an analysis of 'best practice' programs for dropout recovery and public training; a view of educational assessment models now under study in various states; . and a paper on the financing of America's labor and education systems. Before we were done, we conducted interviews with more than 2,000 people at more than 550 firms and agencies, not counting innumerable local labor market interviews. Ail along, we read a small mountain of government and private reports and analyzed data not based on our own field research. The study was comprehensive in scope. Our subject required the integration of information from diverse disciplines: corporate strategy, labor market policy and educational policy across a number of countries. While our work was thorough, it was conducted as a strategy study, not an academic inquiry. Our intent was to gather sufficient information and do adequate analysis to make policy recommendations. Our corclusions are based in part upon data from our study. They are also based on the collective wisdom of our Commissioners, who have years of experience addressing issues of labor policy, education and corporate strategy. 96 Supporting Infirmation 4 A I. I 0111 SUPPORTING INFORMATION I A NEW AMEnICAN ASSESSMENT SYSTEM FOR FOUNDATION SKILLS Assessment System For Foundation Skills Properly designed, assessment system should function both to motivate and organize students' work during the school years and set a benchmark to which educational institutions could target their efforts. To meet these objectives, the system we recommend should: Reward effort and organized work. Demand thinking and reasoning skills of this nation's students, preparing them for more complex work environments. D;rectly assess thinking based achievement, using examinations equal to the task. Allow students to accumulate evidence of achievement and accomplishment, rather than relying on a single point of examination to determin-! performance. Be administered and directed by an independent certification agency. 99 Effort Based, Not Arbitrary, Education And Assessment This Commission proposes an educational system that provides clear incentives and goals for students, measures educational attainment and skill competencies and rewards a student for effort and performance. The current educational structure in the United States does not adequately measure nor reward a student's effort or academic performance. Due to the way they are examined and graded, students are not held to a clear standard of achievement toward which they can work. For students who do not plan to go to college, high-school grades often have little meaning. As very few employers scrutinize high-school transcripts when making hiring decisions, what compels students to do more than the minimum required tc obtain a passing grade? What motivates a student to work hard in school? Grades have more meaning for college bound students, but grades alone do not determine a student's acceptance or rejection from the college of choice. Admissions officers look at performance on standardized 1 R3 Sttpporttng Infigmatton I national tests, like the ACT and the SAT. However, school curricula are not directly tied to these tests. Students have no way of adequately preparing for them, save the cram courses that teach shortcuts, but not subject content. Compounding this, teachers are often actvisectnot-to de/irltely prepare their students for these exams so as to avokt being accused of giving them an 'unfair' advantage. For either type of student, effort is not directly tied to results. Currently, no one can be held accountable for how students perform in school. If students who barely make it through the system receive the same reception in the workplace as those who really put forth an effort, is it surprising that some students do not take their education seriously? An examination based achievement certification system-can fundamentally change this. At the heart of such a system must be a series of examinations for which students can explicitly prepare, with teachers serving as their coaches, mentors and allies. Thinking Based Achievement, Not Routinized Skills Like other industrialized countries in the nineteenth century, the United States developed two different levels of educational expectation one for an academic elite, the other, for the rest of the population. The majority of students was expected to learn Supporting Information 1 1 P 4 routine skills, simple computation, reading of predictable texts and reciting civic or religious codes. They were not expected to learn higher-order functions of thinking and reasoning. These goals were reserved for the elite, originally in separate high schools and more recently in college preparatory programs in our comprehensive schools. The curriculum most Americans are exposed to gives them little chance to learn to construct convincing arguments and to understand complex systems. A thinking oriented curriculum for all constitutes a significant new educational agenda. While it is not new to include thinking, problem solving and reasoning in some students' school curriculum, it is new to include it in everyone's curriculum. It is new to aspire seriously to make thinking and problem solving regular aspects of the school program for the entire population, including minorities, non-English speakers and children of the poor. To meet the challenge, we must have an achievement certification system in which me examinations assess the kinds of high level competencies to which we aspire. Current forms of testing do this very poorly. The system of routinized rather than thinking based achievement forms the basis for testing theory and practice even today. 100 Three kinds of examinations can be used: Performance Examinations. The Olympics and the performing arts use this type of examination to determine an individual's qualifications. It is equally wellsuited to assess academic ability and effort. This exam differs fundamentally from the multiple-choice kind of test, in that it measures process as well as end product, and it has no elements of surprise. Students taking these exams are aware of the type of performance expected of them, and they are able to take the necessary steps in preparation. Teachers can prepare students for the exams, acting as coaches and mentors, rather than adverFaries. In the system we envision, both traditional academic and more practical performance would be assessed. For example, practical literacy might be assessed by asking Certificate candidates to assemble equipment following written instructions and diagrams; and ability to work with others in making decisions might be, assessed by rating candidates' performance in an economic simulation game. Performance examinations could be carried out either in a live setting, with a team of judges grading specific features of the performance and the overall quality, or the product of the performance could be scored in place of the live performance. The latter option substantially reduces the cost of performance examination, making it a viable component of a mass assessment system. lipportnig hybrmation 1 leC Portfolio Examinations. This form of examination is modeled on methods of assessment used in the visual arts in which a team of judges rates students' products on several different criteria. Certain academic skills, especially writing, are well-suited to this type of assessment, as time based exams impose unnatural constraints and do not accurately capture a student's true ability. Current experiments show that this type of test can have direct educational value: by working with their teachers in selecting the best of their work for inclusion in the portfolio, students build explicit understand14 of standards of judgment. Project Examinations. The third form of examination evaluates extended participation in learning. These examinations ale the best way of assessing motivation and social skills, because judges evaluate a record of candidates' extended participation in a task with real meaning and consequence in the world. For example, students might undertake Ali extentied'applied science project such as designing a bridge, conducting an investigation of an aspect of community life, or planning and carrying out a construction project. Students would be required to document the major steps taken, supervisors would sign off and sate the project at designated stages and a final grade would be determined, taking into account a whole range of criteria. 102 Any of these examinations taken alone would serve to provide a clear link between effort and assessment, measurable by the student, the teacher and_.the community at large. A combination of the exams, depending upon the skills or knowledge to be measured, would provide an even better picture of a student's achievement. A Cumulative Certification System These examinations should be viewed as building blocks rather than high stakes moments of possible failure. The achievement certification system we propose should permit students to assemble certification credentials over a period of years, perhaps beginning as early as entrance into middle school. This kind of cumulative certification has several advantages over a single point of examination. It helps to organize and motivate students over a period of years. Rather than preparing for a distant examination whose form and demanth can be only dimly imagined by tl-:-. 11- oi 12-year-old, students can begin to collect specific certifications. It provides multiple opportunities for success. Cumulative certificates are our best shot at drawing in the presently undereducated and undermotivated. /0 3 A cumulative credentialing system, because of its transferable nature, permits students who are not being well taught in the mainstream educational system to earn their credentials under other institutional auspices. This system avoids the problem of minimum credentialing standards becoming functionally the maximum. Students who complete the base certifications early in their schooling can start working on advanced certificates either in schools and colleges or in workplace training sites. A cumulative system will avoid the phenomenon of 'examination hell' a year or two of high-tension devotion to nothing but exam study that plagues several couatries (such as Japan and France) that have single point-of-exit examinations. An Independent Examining Organization Credentials and certification should be determined by an organilation independent of school systems and free from political influence. The Governing Board of this organization should be broadly representative of educators, employers and the citizenry at large.. Under the Board's general oversight, working commissions in several knowledge and skill domains should deter1 R 7 Mlporting Injhrmanon I mine appropriate skills a.ld knowledge for certification standards, establish the performance, portfolio and project examinations procedures and oversee the professional and objective nature of the judging of these exams. - I R S Supporting litliomunwi 1 104 SUPPORTING INFORMATION II ALTERNATIVE PROGRAMS FOR AT-RISK YOUTH: SWEETWATER UNION HIGH SCHOOL, THE .139,1T9N PCIAIWT AND THE WEGMAN'S PROGRAM The dropout problem and the ill-defmed and often restrictive school-to-work transition have spurred communities from coast to coast to devise al*.emative programs for their youth. Sweetwater Union High School, the Boston Compact and the Wegman's Program are three good examples. Sweetwater Union High School: Dropout Recovery Three years ago, in a determined attempt to reduce its growing dropout rate, the Sweetwater Union High School District in San Diego, California set up an alternative system for students to acquire their highschool diplomas. Two relocatable buildings were Set up ncxt to-the high school and equipped with classrooms of computers and software necessary to provide a full highschool course offering. Sweetwater's superintendent found a way to reverse the traditional incentives that encourage professionals to get rid of the least desirable students. He decided to operate the program as a business. Ninetyfour percent ot the revenue (derived from 105 the entire state allotment for each dropout attracted to the center) would go to the school. The school would pay all operating expenses including staff salaries, but the rtmaining 'profits' would belong to the school and could be spent at the principal's discretion. Today, former dropouts sit at computer terminals, fully engaged in their studies, well-behaved and full of hope. Many are well on their way to receiving their diplomas. Of the most recent group of graduates, approximately 60 percent have enrolled in college. These are the very same students who, a few years earlier, would have been ejected from classrooms for disruptive ,behavior,or who would, have quietly slipped out of school, feeling it had nothingid Offer." The district does no recruiting for the program. Word of mouth has produced a waiting list of those who want to enroll. The high quality of education the students receive ard the flexibility of scheduling are key components of the success of the system. Students can both go to school 1 69 Supporting Information 11 and work full-time, and can participate any of the school's extracurricular or social activities. In a conventional program, the district would have had to build a $35 million physical facility for these students. But the relocatable classrooms and computer equipment cost a tiny fraction of that amount, and the program has requked no new staff. Most important, 6,000 young people who had little to look forward to in life now have a good start. The Boston Compact And Its Commitment To Boston's Youth The current labor market structure makes it very difficult for low-income young people White, Black or Hispanic to get matched to jobs. The first roadblock they encounter is access to information or people concerning jobs. Too often, they and their parents lack the personal contacts and the resources of their middle class counterparts that would enable them to get that first interview. The powerful negative stereotypes that exist on both sides of the hiring equation make looking for a job that much more difficult for these youth. Employers cannot help but be swayed by what they see in print about inner-city youth. And inner-city youth, especially minorities, have their own negative ideas about downtown hiring practices. 170 The Boston Compact, a communitywide commitment to improving the educational achievement of Boston's public school students, has put the issue on the city's agenda. Some of the strongest initiatives include: A school system commitment to measurable improvements in student attendance and academic achievement. A private sector commitment to employ students in the summer and upon graduation through the Bosion Private Industry Council. The school-based Careers Service, which combines the resources of the school and business communities to create linkages between inner-city youth and employers. The contribution of $17 million by the business community to a fund to aid public education, including a 'last dollar scholarship' program for all graduates admitted to college. The agreement between city high schools and the 24 area colleges and universities to increase the number of students going to college and graduating. Tiv- commitment of the Area Building Trades Council (AFL-CIO) to increase the enrollment in apprenticeships for Boston high school graduates. Supporting InjOrmation 11 4 106 A commitment to measure results carefully, including a survey of all students in the fall after graduation to ascertain their education and employment circumstances. An examination of one of the programs, the Careers Service, shows how commitment to youth can ease the school-to-work transition, espedally for the disadvantaged. The Service, a joint effort of Boston's educational and business communities, under the direction of Boston's Private Industry Council, employs career specialists who work with students, teachers, staff and employers to pair students with jobs. There are no guarantees for employment. Both the students and the employers must be convinced that the matches fit before any commitments are made on either side. Currently, some 900 firms in the city participate in the summer jobs and the graduate hire programs. Personnel officers work with the service's career specialists, exchanging information and opening doors that were formerly closed to Audents. The results have been dramatic. In 1989, 3,316 high-school students found summer employment at an average wage of $6.08 an hour. That same year, 1,107 graduates were hired for permanent, full-time positions at an average wage of $6.75 an hour. Graduates from Boston high schools found full-time jobs through the Careers Service, at an average wage of $8.43 an hour. A comparison of the 1985 survey of Boston graduates with BLS numbers for the nation shows employment for 62 percent of the White (10 points above the national rate), 60 percent of the Black (32 points above), and more than half the Hispanic graduates (11 points better than the national rate). Employment/Population Ratios for Class of 1985 U.S.A. Boston Whites 52% 62% Hispanics 43% 54% Blacks 28% 60% For graduates of the class of 1988, the Boston PIC reported that 66 percent of Whites, 58 percent of Blacks and 71 percent of Hispanics were employed. An analysis of wages a year and a half after graduation for the class of 1988 by Professor Andrew Sum of Northeastern's Center for Labor Market Studies shows Boston's non-college youth earning $8.04 an hour, nearly half again as much as the $5.40 non-college high-school graduates in other central cities surveyed by the Census Bureau. This survey's results are important in two ways: First, they show how much a commitment to improving current systems 1 71 10' Supporting Inf0rmallonll can provide students, regardless of background, with a positive future; second, they underline the need for accessibility and timely transmittal of data so that those involved can see the concrete results of their hard work and effort. While the external partners have made progress toward their goals, school improvement has come slowly in Boston. At the Boston PIC annual meeting in 1988, the business community and the mayor refused to renew the Compact until satisfied that the structure of the schools would improve. By March, 1989, when Compact II was at last signed, the leadership of the Boston Public Schools and the Boston Teachers Union had committed to a contract incorporating school based managemi .it and a new accountability system that measures individual school performar Reccgnizing that entry level jobs are not enough to assure economic security, Compact II sets a goal of building links between work and further learning &Ting Lhe four years after high school for those students not going to college. The first project under this ilew effort is designed to lead to professional certification and an associate's degree in the health professions for students. With technical assistance from the National Alliance of Business, 12 cities in addition to Boston are developing compacts based on agreements between schools, business and government to carefully meas172 Supporting Information II ure progress toward improvement in education and employment for young people. The Wegmnn's Program Wegman's Supermarkets in Rochester, New York offers an example of a company that has taken up the challenge on its own. For several years, the owners of Wegman's have been offering part-time supermarket Os tr 14-year-old students who are identified by the local schools as likely potential dropouts. The one condition for employment is that the students must stay in school to keep the job. A Wegman's employee works at the school district headquarters to coordinate the prog. an with parents and teachers, recruit students, monitor their progress and help Ii 1 out if they get in trouble. Employees at the supermarkets act as mentors Tor the students on the job and also tutor them in their school subjects. Best of all, for any student who succeeds in finishing school and continues onto college, Wegman's pays the full tuitiun. The result is that Wegman's has single-handedly managed to create a multifaceted and caring support structure for the students that hinges upon the students' continuing effort to learn. 108 Thew is no single recipe for successful worker training. Some of the most exemplary programs in the natkiii deer-greatly in approach, administration and scope. Some successful experiments are being initiated by unions in cooperation with employers and educational institutions and by high schools and community colleges working together. Industry Network Training Me Sheet Metal Industry Training The Skilled Craftsmen High geographic mobility characterizes the sheet metal industry. A worker in Jackson, Mississippi on Monday 'eoukl find hIMselt working in San Francisco, California on Friday of the same week. He and his employer would not expect the difference in locale to have any bearing on his ability to work. Formerly, it did. Due to the wide diversity in content and quality of training practices around the country, there was no guarantee of consistency in work habits. Recognizing this, the union and the employers' association, through a nationwide Cenective Bargaining Agreement, created a National Training Trust Fund in 1971 to 109 research current training practices. The Fund looked to sheet metal workers and employers throughout the country.for ideas. From their responses and suggestions, the Fund devised a national apprentice training curriculum and a loan/grant program for equipment and facility upgrade. (The program made monies available in interestfree long-term loans and outright grants.) The study also unveiled some serious shortcomings in the existing system. For the most part, industry practice was to offer a one-time program for -apprentices only. The need,Eor crAntinuing ,education,and,skills upgrading of journeymen went largely ignored. In 1973, the Training Fund, in conjunction with the National Center for Research in Vocational Education at Ohio State University, devised a `train-the-trainer' program to raise the teaching ability of local instructors and to introduce them to the concept of continuous training, for apprentices through master craftsmen. Since the start of ti.is program 16 years ago, more than 3;000 instructors have been trained, and many local sheet metal Joint 1 73 Supporting Infiirnunion III Apprenticeship and Training Committees ;TATC's) now offer training beyond the apprenticeship level. Programs include welding, computer-assisted design (CAD) and computer-assisted manufacturing (CAM), indoor air quality, architectural sheet metal and other advanced studies. The Fund continues to closely monitor employment requirements and 'Orecasts skill needs for the industry's future. Growing concerns about energy conservation have prompted a training program for energy management technicians and auditors. Techricians are trained to examine the energy efficiency of existing buildings. Following the:prograni, they 'hAve the skills' to retrofit structures to efficiency and indcor air quality. National network training programs mmleled around-similar principles,now,exist for six other building trades. Joint Apprenticeship/Degree Programs Skilled trades in other industries are taking another approach to training. They are structuring apprenticeship programs-to allow apprentices to apply coursework and experience toward the attainment of an associate's degree. The National Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee for Operating Engineers, the American Association of Community and supporting Info, nialion 1 74 Junior Colleges (AACJC) and the Atneticw Council on Education (ACE) are working-Ott this dual enrollment model. The*** ' management and union committee has reached agreement upon a general and curriculum (including content instructional material) for the ships, subject to some local variation. administrators are encouraged to concentrate on more macro issues rather than be delayed or limited by rigid specifications. The AACJC provides technical support in course planning and implementation. Colleges have been granting apprentices in tbese dual enrollment programs Credirs eciunraient't6 50 io 86 percent of the - totaiscredits needed tizot,aP .as.F.:::' degree' joint Union/Employer Training ,Unifed,Asaqmohile Workers 4tod The , Auto Industry Since the early 1980s, the United Automopile Workers (UAW) has successfully negotigled dedicated training funds into its contracts with major auto companies. Ford Motor Company. The National Education, Development and Training Center (NEDTC), located on the campus of Henry Ford Community College, to this point has provided training for about half of Ford's hourly workforce. While much of the training in technical literacy, problem solving and teamwork for UAW-represented Ford employees takes IN place after working hours, a great deal of it is clearly linked to the training sponsored on company time. As the company has emphasized statistical process control training for its workers, the NEDTC haF provided courses in remedial matit and computer_awareness for those who need to acquire basic skills. More than 30,000 workers have participated in this companion training. Since the UAW and Ford decided to make training a strategic issue, the company's financial profile has moved from losses to profits. The 1988 annual report noted: "Ford learned a pivotal lesson during the bleak days of the'early 1980's == if the company was to be successful it kid to focus oil the basics of its business and engage the full support of its employees." Ford recogni7es NEDTC as having played an integral role in this turnaround. General Motors. Every one of the 157 General Motors facilities in the United States has UAW training programs in place. AC Rochester is among the most active. AC Rochester has undergone tremendous change in a short period of time. In 1985, AC Rochester produced carburetors. Since then, the plant has introduced a new production process and technology, and now the primary product is fuel injection systems. / / / Organizational changes have followed in the wake. The previous 112 production classifications have been collapsed into three. Because of this dramatic restructuring, employees (25 percent o( whom. do not possess a high-school education) have to be retrained, their skills upgraded and their versatility increased. Job-specific training is mandatory and is offered to workers on seniority basis. If workers experienc difficulty completing required job s,jdll training, alternative basic skills c rsework is provided for them. Workers ar allowed to repeat a training course, if n ssary, until needed job Skill Coinkten es are obtained. AC Rochester pays for this training .---' using both UAW-GM funds and public resources. Approximately 20 percent of AC Rochester's employees are enrolled in at least one of the program's 75 job-specific training modules. GED education programs (started in 1986), Adult Basic Education and English as a Second Language programs supple.nent job-sptcific training for approximately-680 AC Rochester workers. New York State's Employer Specific Skills Training Grant and Workplace Literacy funds provide training for another 30 percent of the plant's workers. Seven hundred and fifty workers are in the plant's JOBS bank, a job security program created in the UAW-GM national agreement. All JOBS hank workers as well 1 75 Alipporting Information al - -^,- ..; ,- =.t,..._ as all active workers in the plant, can take part in a full-time college attendance program created by AC Rochestet's Joint training center staff. Upon completion of a GED/ Workplace Literacy Program, an active worker or a JOBS bank worker is eligible to entt- the full-time college program. Both active and JOBS bank workers receive full pay and benefits, plus up to $2,250 annual tuition payments while enrolled in the college program. To remain eligible, workers must obtain a minimum of 15 credit hours per semester and be matriculated into an associate's, bachelor's or master's degree granting program. Approximately 50 percent of the workers in training at AC Rochester are enrolled in the full-time college an, dance program. Chrysler. The UAW-Chrysler National Training Center, headquartered near downtown Detroit, operates eight United States regional training centers near major Chrysler plant locations and directs 45 different training and joint activity programs in 41 locations in the United States. More than 60 percent of UAW-represented Chrysler workers 1.articipate in some kind of formal training or educational program, ranging from 'Tech Prep' basic skill development to new technology training. (More than 30,000 UAW-represented Chrysler workers have participated in computer Supporting Information III 1 7 training alone.) The National Training Center has experimented with a number of new training and educational techniques and has undertaken a number of special pilot programs in 'Tech Prep' training. Two-PlusTwo Programs In Technical Fields A growing number of communities are creating better lir.'cages betweentigh__ 4 schools and community colleges. Experimental two-plus-two' programs can be found across the country, creating a bridge for students who do not pursue four-year college degrees. A 'Tech Prep' program in North Carolina's Richmond County School District is an example of this link. Prior to the establishment of the program, 25 percent of the districes high-school students were enrolled in college preparatory courses, and the remaining 75 percent in general academic/vocational courses. For three quarters of the student body, courses were outdated and did not reflect the needs of the community. In 1986, the district decided that the vocational track needed attention. A 'Tech Prep' program was created with upgraded and revised vocational courses. These courses reflected the demands of Richmond employers, and they required more rigorous academic and vocational preparation than traditional non-college programs of study. 112 The program has been most successful. Today, obout one third of Richmond. students are enrolled in college preparatory programs and another third can be found in the Tech Prep' program. Enrollment for Algebra I courses has increased by 42 cent, and Algebra II course enrollment has gone up by 57 percent in just three ears. Mathematics has not been th only area afkcted by the system's reform. More students are taking advanced English, social studies and science courses, and the average SAT swres for the district have increased 46 points. Additkmally, the annual dn)pout rate has declined from 7.2 percent to 4.8 percent. 'The number of graduates choosing ta attend community college has dtmbled. 1 77 I I,t Supporting Information III SUPPORTING INFORMATION IV: SKILLS INVESTMENT TAXES: FOREIGN EXAMPLES All of the foreign competitors we studied require firms to invest in developing and improving the skills of their workers. These contributions, organized as part of national strategies for training and skills development, generally take two forms. Companies often directly contribute to public employment and training services, as in Germany, Japan and Denmark. Through this approach, the government may organize, oversee or directly provide the training to those individuals needing basic or upgraded work skills. Firms are often required to contribute through a periodically assessed tax or levy to a national training fund, as in Ireland, ,. Singapore 'and Sweden. ThiS fund mity operate as a monitored 'training account.' from which companies can retrieve their funds to offer some form of approved training The funds for these initiatives are channeled from various sources such as payroll taxes, general government revenue and tax-deductible contributions, all of which are expenditures above and beyond a company's in-house training investment. In every case, the goal of the national system is 1 15 to encourage companies to train, to spread costs and ultimately to create a self-perpetuating program for continually upgrading the skills of the adult workforce. GERMANY German corporations contribute a total of nearly 3.5 percent of annual payroll to public training and employment schemes through joint employer-employee financed national unemployment insurance, the national system of apprenticeship and mandatory contributions to local Chambers of Commerce. In this system, employers are assessed 2.3 percent of annual payroll to the unemployment insurance fund, and eMplOyees match their contributions. In 1988, 42 percent of this fund was devoted to training and labor exchange programs, including employment counseling and placement, incentives for companies to employ and retrain hard-to-place workers and free training for workers who are unemployed or facing unemployment fcr skills reasons, Although this fund is managed by the government, the training is provided by the I78 sr imx otng hybrmat um 11" private sector and generally lasts trom four months to two years. Individuals receive the normal unemployment benefit to support themselves during training. Beyond this expense, German companies contribute DM 25 billion (U.S. $13.5 billion), or another 2.5 percent of payroll, for 1.7 million trainees in the apprenticeship system. Through these apprenticeships, companies largely finance the last two to four years of secondary education for the majority of German youth. In addition to the contributions to apprenticeships and insurance fund programs, German companies are required to contribute to their local employers' organizations (generally the Chambers of Industry and Commerce or the Crafts Chambers). Seventy percent of the .-hamber budgets are devoted to training purposes, geared particularly to those small companies that lack the resources to train extensively in-house. Many larger German corporations, along with funding public training, dedicate significant resources to their own training initiatives. For example, Seimens AG allocated DM 470 million, or 2.5 percent of payroll, to train and upgrade its workers inhouse in 1967. SWEDEN Swedish firms contribute to training by financing the public employment and training systems and by contributing to governSupp lallng hyorma Mal /1 ment-established training funds. An employer contribution of approximately 2.5 percent of annual payroll fimaces the National Labor Mai tset Roard (AMS), which operates Sweden's n..,ional employment service, manages labor exchange and provides mining and subsidized employme.lt. This contribuuon is independent of the unemployment compensation system, to which companies also contribute, and of the employer's extensive social security obligations. In 1987, Sweden spent $3.9 billion on labor market measures kg a workforce of 4.4 million. The Swedish government also establishes renewal funds, into which all companies of a certain size are required to contribute 10 percent of net profits. The taxdeductible contributions are placed into an interest-free account and may be withdrawn later to support company training that has been approved by the government and the local unions. Volvo, for example, utilized its renewal fun& tc ovide up to two years of initial training for employees when it opened its team-style auto production plant in Udevalla. DENMARK In Denmark, training fw. unemployed individuals and a substantial amount of training for company employees is provided free of / /6 charge by the government through the National Labor Market Board (AMU). While general government revenues fund most of this effort, employers contribute up to 600 Dkr (U.S. $82) per worker. This figure represents a total employer contribution of 0.2 percent of annual payroll. Employees also match the contribution. In 1988, AMU provided 1.1 billion Dkr (U.S. $137 million) to train 100,000 participants. IRELAND In Ireland, the larger companies are required to contribute one to 2.5 percent of payroll annually into the levy-grant scheme, creating a fund similar to Sweden's renewal fund. Ninety percent of funds are then returned to the company for use in training programs approved by the national employment authority (FAS). The remaining 10 percent is used for administrative purposes. FAS. working through its industrial training committees, assists companies in devising their training programs and administers the labor exchange system. SINGAPORE Singapore has aggressively supported training as part of its overall high prodlictivity development strategy. The ,kills Development Fund (SDF), to which employers contribute one percent of payroll annually, is used by the government to partially reimburse companies for approved forms of 117 training. This includes approved apprenticeship and in-house training, external training in recognized courses offered by accredited institutions and particularly training in high technology and 'economically critical' skills (for which companies receive twice the normal reimbursement). The Singapore government also funds from general revenues a number of training institutes, often in cooperation with multinational companies. JAPAN Japanese corporations have a strong philosophical commitment to training, and in many cases build and run their own schools and training centers for the constant betterment of their workforce. Japanese corporations are required to contribute an average of one percent of payroll into the National Employment Insurance Fund, which-pays for unemployment compensation and three employment and training programs. Of this one percent tax, about one third to one half is used to finance the three employment and training initiatives. In addition, employer tax funds are combined with federal, prefectural (state) and, to a lesser degree, municipal general revenues to finance the Ministry of Labor's Human Resources Development Bureau, 16 U Supporting Infonnation IV which administers the Capability Development Program. This program supports nearly 400 public or vocational training facilities, provides direct assistance to firms in creating their own in-house training capability and helps develop and implement a set of industry based skill certifications and examinations. Each of these countries requires companies to promote the skills development of the national workforce. In each case, the mandatory corporate contributions are in addition to the amounts that companies spend to train their own employees. Mpporttng InPrmation IV 118 SUPPORTING INFORMATION V FINANCING OUR PROPOSALS The, United States spends more than $300 billion each year in Federal. state and local funds on public and private education at all levels. This Commission's recommendations constitute a system of quality controls to assure we are getting the most for these dollars. What The Current System Costs Before estimating the costs of these recornmendations, the Commission estimated the amount of public funds currently being spent on the 16- to 19-year:old population. These monies include the last two years of high school, two years of college, governmentsponsored training programs like the Job Training Partnership Act and employment assistance like the Targeted Jobs Tax Credit and Unemployment Insurance. Using 1987-1988 data (the last school year with the most comprehensive enrollment and revenue information available), we estimate that between $34.2 and $36.5 billion of public funds were spent on the operating expenses of education and training programs and for employment assistance for civilians in this age group. The Focus Population Age Total Population Post-Secondary Enrollment Grades 11-12 Enrollment 16-19 14,548,500 2,903,737 5,795,822 1 82 I I() ,SupportIng hyormanon 1 Public Expenditures: Education Operating Costs And Training-Related Programs For The 16- To 19-Year-Old Population Public Expenditures ($ Billions) $23.1 - 24.7' 7.8 - 8.52 Secondary School: Grade 11 11.7 12.5 Grade 12 10.7 11.4 Unclassified 0.7 0.8 Higher Education: Public Institutions 7.4 7.9 Federal 0.3 0.4 State 6.2 6.3 Local 0.5 0.6 Pell Grants 0.4 - 0.6 Private Institutions 0.4 0.6 Federal 0.1 0.1 State 0.1 0.2 Lo:al < 0.1 Pell Grants 0.2 0.3 Employment and/or Training Assistance:3 yrpA Programs (including Block Grants, Summer Youth Program, 2.2 Dislocated Workers, Job Corps, Native Americans and Migrant Worker programs, JTPA for Veterans) Employment Service 0.2 Unemployment Insurance 0.3 Other Second Chance Programs (including Vocational Rehabilitation, 0.4 Food Stamp Employment & Training, WIN/JOBS, Refugee Assistance) Targeted Jobs Tax Credit < 0.1 TOTAL $34.2 - 36.5 1 P 3 Supporting Information V 120 In calculating these costs, the Commission counted only those public funds associated with current fund operating expenses for 16- to 19-year-olds. Capital outlays, interest on debt, research money, and both iestricted and unrestricted grants and contracts were excluded.' As the above charts indicate, the bulk of public cost is attributable to state and local funds for junior and senio,' years of public high school and to state expenditures for the two years of public higher education immediately following high school. Youth Centers Bringing disenfranchised groups into an education system, any system be it public high school, Job Corps or new Youth Centers will require additional funds. In calculating a cost, the Commission made several assumptions. First, the Youth Center participants may have special needs that result in higher than average per pupil expenses. Thus, we increased by 20 percent the 1988 per pupil average foi grades K-12 to arrive at a Youth Center per pupil expenditure of just under $5,100. Second, because the majority of dropouts leave school at age 16 or 17, we assumed that the average length of enrollment in a Youth Center would be two years. Once a person has attained the Certificate of Initial Mastery, the individual would pursue 121 the various options available through work or more advanced technical and professional training. 1989 Age Population5 Dropout Rate Annual Youth Center Costs° (in billions) 16 3,351,000 20% 3.4 3,534,000 20% 3.6 18 3,676,000 20% 3 7 19 3,662,000 20% 3.7 To date, attempts at solving our nation's dropout problem have been expensive, frustrating and largely unsuccessful. Our continued failure means greater costs for society: Fifty-two percent of high-school dropouts are unemployed or receiving welfare assistance. Fer this population of Americans, welfare benefits and lost tax revenues totaled $75 billion in 1987: More than 80 percent of pregnant teenagers are high-school dropouts." Sixty percent of prison inmates are highschool dropouts. The annual cost to house an individual in prison is more than $16,000.9 1 4 Su/porting hilonnation I The Commission believes that while the sums of money it proposes for Youth Centers are not small, the costs are minimal compared with the incalculable benefits to be derived from a total population of 'workready' individuals. The proposed system makes it very difficult for individuals to slip through the cracks meaning that nearly 100 percent of our young people should acquire the basic mastery skills necessary to lead productive work lives. Funding Technical and Professional Certificates If we had paid up to $5,000 for every 16-. 17-. 18- and 19-year-old to pursue education beyond the Certificate of Initial Mastery in 1987-1988, the cost would have amounted to S72.7 billion (versus roughly $36.5 billion spent under the current system). The Commission has suggested that the National Center on Education and the Economy conduct a detailed analysis of this subject and explore ways to ensure that all students have the financial means to pursue this further education. Given the anticipated economic benefits to society. a strong argument can be made that general revenues should be used to finance this type of guarantee. The original G.I. Bill is one example of how an initial government investment can produce mev.surable benefits for many years. At a cost of about $14 billion, the G.I. Bill provided training and education for more than 7.8 Supporting Information l" million World War II veterans. A recent congressional study concluded that, of those who used the entitlement to attend college, the ratio of benefits to costs was a minimum of 5 to 1 and as high as 12.5 to 1. The study also found that the additional taxes paid by the college educated veterans during their working lives more than paid for the program.'° Another example of a high ratio of benefits to costs is found in quality preschool programs, such as Head Start. These programs demonstrate that for every federal dollar spent, $3 to $6 is saved in future social services, welfare, unemployment and remediation." Other funding strategies could be used to make the proposal 'revenue-neutral.' Individual Training Account: Individual Training Accounts (ITAs) could be established that would combine a voucher system similar to the G.I. Bill with a savings and equity based financing system analogous to Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). 12 Students would make tax-deductible contributions and withdrawals to purchase training and education. Most importantly, negative account balances would be permitted while an individual is enrolled in an education or training program; repayments to the account would begin once the individual began working and would be spread over time. 1 P 5 122 Training Surcharge on Personal income: A plan similar to the Individual Training Account could permit an individual to repay a four-year government-backed education and training voucher over the course of one's working life. Payments would take the form of a small surcharge (less than one percent of personal income) on one's annual tax return. Both the Individual Training Account and the Training Surcharge would allow young people to purchase education and training when they need it and repay the debt later. Also, both plans could be used throughout orw's lifetime as an incentive for further training. Employers as well as employees could make contributions to an Individual Training Account. Skills Development Fund The Skills Development Fund will be financed through the federal training trust fund. This trust will not require any General Fund expenditures situ:. it will be created with revenues collected irom the assessment on every employer who chooses not to invest in employee training One percent of the curient United States payroll v,ould produce between $28 and i0 billion annually. Because a small percentage of companies already spend ene percent or more on training and more can be expected to do the same as a direct result of the assessment, the trust fund will total less than this amount in the first year. I2 Other Proposals We recognize that our other recommendations have fiscal implications, including those related to Technical and Professional Certification, Employment and Training Boards and the Certificate of Initial Mastery But, in relation to the costs just described, the amounts are small and likely to be supported by reallocating currently available resources and drawing on the resources of the private sector. An example of how the Technical and Professional Certification system can operate is the Advisory Committee for Trade Negotiations and its nem (ilk of smaller industry specific groups. In the Trade Act of 197,4, Congress established a private sector advisory committee system to ensure that trade policy reflected United States commercial and economic interests. The system consists of approximately 40 committees with a total membership of approximately 1,000 advisors, who serve on policy, technical, sectoral and functional ach isory committees. Each advisor represents a different industry or commodity group. All advisors, who are nominated by their peers, serve a finite term without compensation for their time or expenses. With the exception of the initial selection process and the staff support of a few 1 R 6 Supporting Information government employees, there is no other federal role and no budget outlay. The committees meet regularly, are self-governed and are considered prestigious and effective. NOTE& 1. 1987-1988 public school enrollment for grade 11 was 2,935,615; 1987-1988 public school enrollment for grade 12 was 2,680,843. Using the official 1987 and 1988 per pupil current expenditure averages for grades K through 12 of $3,977 and $4,243 respectively (based upon average daily attendance) one can calculate a range of $23.1-$24.7 billion of total spending for grades 11 and 12. The Commission notes that per pupil expenses for secondary school are greater than those for the elementary grades (due to the costs of senior high school laboratories, vocational programs and smaller class sizes). In addition, some private secondary schools receive revenues from Federal, state and local government sources; however these amounts are minimal and data are not available. Because the published data do not satisfactonly measure the size or place of enrollment. the Commission assumed that most individuals benefiting from public vocational monies would he countxl in high school or in twoyear community college programs. Sot ace National Centerfor Education Stanstks. 'Digest of Education Statistics - 1989 2 The Commission counted all 18- and 19-year-olds enrolled in all institutions of higher learning. In 1987-1988 this number was 2.696.652 or 21.1 percent of total post- secondary enrollment (Tho e mdbiduals younger than age 18 who were enrolled in these institutions totaled 207.085 or about 1.6 r rcent of all higher education students ) 1 7 S I ipport I Ijo 011a/ion The Commission applied all federal, state and local appropriations, including Pell Grants, to the proportion of enrolled 18- and 19-year-olds (by public, private, four-year and two-year institutions) to produce a range of $7.848.5 billion. Source: National Center for Educatum Stoutuicp "Digest o je Education Statistics - 1989." 3. The Commission used the United States Departments of Labor, Agriculture, Treasury and Health and Human Services estimates of the proportion of 16- to 19-year-olds being served by government prngrams. These proportions were then applied to total program budgets. 4. By counting only government appropriations for current student expenditures, the Commission realized it was losing some federal, state ind local funds that ultimately do contribute to student instruction, such as state incentive grants to studentsand local scholarships. Due to the lack of detailed data. the Commission chose to underestimate rather than overestimate the figures. 5. 1989 unpublished data from the current population survey. the Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department of Labor. 6. The Commission used the United States average dropout rate (as officially defined) of 20 percent to calculate the anticipated costs of the Youth Centers. The high-school graduation rate is another measure that can be used. In 1989. the nation's high schools graduated ahout 71 percent of those students who entered secondary school, according to the United States Department of Education. Based on this rate, the cost of educating 29 percent of today's 16-yearold population in Youth Centers (with an annual per pupil expenditure of $5.100) would be about $4.9 bilh.m per year or $9 8 billion for two years. 7 Data from research conducted by the Multicultural Prevention Resources Center. San Francisco and published as an article -A Nation in 0:Ms: The Dropout Dilemma.- by Byron N. Kunisawa in NM Today. January 1988. 124 8 Ibid. 9. 1988 data from the National Institute of Corrections Information Center, Boulder, Colorado. 10 "A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Government Investment in Post Secondary Education under the World War II G.I Bill," a staff analysis prepared for the use of the Subcommittee on Education and Health of the Joint Economic Committee December 14, 1988 11. "The Preschool Challenge" by Lawrence J. Schweinhart; High/Scope Educational Research Foundation. 1985 "Changed lives The etTects of the Perry Preschool program on youths through age 19," Monographs of the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation, by John R Berrueta-Clement, Lawrence J. Schweinhart, W. Steven Bamett, Ann S Epstein & David P Weikart. 1984. 12 This concept is discussed in The High Flex Society by Pat Choate and,' K Imger 1986 1 8 /2 Slipp011111,k Acknowkdgements ' ! , ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank Marc Tucker for the vision he displayed in defining the agenda on which this Commission has worked and the Board of Trustees of the National Center on Education and the Economy for providing us the opportunity to address that agenda. We acknowledge with gratitude the financial support extended to the prcject by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. the State of New York. Towers Perrin. Cresap/ Telesis. SJS, Inc. and The German Marshall Fund of the United States which made the entire effort possible. None of these organizations is responsible for the statements or %iews expressecl in this report. We thank ,loan Wills, the Project Manager, v, ho shepherded the meetings of the Cormmssion and staff and drew together the strings of hat became an unusually wide ranging enterplie ith admirable skil: and tenacit. Thanks are due, too, to the mar organizations that contributed their executi% es to the Case Team research effort during an eight-month penod and supported their expenses w hen in the field. Without their aid. it w oukl hae been impossible to mount the research program. hich in many ways has giN en this Commission its distinctive character. And, we owe our thanks, of course, to the case study_research team members themselves, whose prodigious effort on three continents provided a unique perspective. Though technically on leave from their sponsoring institutions for part of this period, virtually all found that they simply had to add these time-consuming tasks to a full-tin-e job, which they did without complaint and with great dedication. The staffs of the National Center, Cresap/Telesis and SJS, Inc. provided support beyond the usual call of duty without complaint and with a high degree of professional skill, for which we are extremely grateful. We would also like to express OW appreciation to the thousands of people in the United States and abroad who allowed us to come and talk with them in the course of our research. Their hospitality and openness made it possible to form a picture of a ery complex reality that could have been developed in no other way. 190 Commission on tbe Skills of tbe American Workforce At knouledgemerit% 04+0 Ap endkves NATIONAL CENTER ON EDUCATION AND THE ECONOMY BOARD OF TRUSTEES Mario M. Cuomo, Honorary Chairman ernor State ot New York John Sculley, Oa mut n Chairnun. President and Chief Executive Offker Apple Computer. Ink James B. Hunt, Jr.. Chairman Partner Pov ner R. Carlos Carballada, Timsurer Vice-Chancellor NO% York State 13(tard of Regents President and Chief Ewcutne Officer Central Trust Company Marc S. Tucker, President National Center on Education and the Econoim Anthony P. Carnevale Vice President of Nati(inal Awn-, and Chief Ec( in( nmst American Sok ietv t( it Training and 1)ev el(tpment Sarah H. Cleveland Law Student Yale Law School Hillary Rodham Clinton Partner Rose Law Firm 133 Thomas W. Cole, Jr. President Clark Atlanta University VanBuren N. Hansford, Jr. President Hanshird Manufacturing Corporation Louis Harris Chief Executive Officer Louis Harris and Associates Barbara R. Hatton Deputy Director Education and Culture Program The Ford Foundation Gullbert C. Hentschke Dean Scluxil of Educati( in University of S(mthern Calihirnia Vera Katz Speaker of the House Oregon House of Representatives Thomas H. Kean President Drew university Arturo Madrid President The Tomas Rivera Center 1 92 Board of Trustees Ira C. Magaziner President SJS, Inc. Shirley M. Malcom Head Directorate of Education and Human Resources American Association for dle Advancement of Science Ray Marshall Chair in Economics and Public Affairs L.B.J School of Public Affairs University of Texas at Austin Peter McWakers Superintendent Rochester City School District Richard P. Mills Commissioner of Education State of Vermont Philip H. Power Chairman Suburban Conimunications Ca mporation Lauren B. Resnick Director learning Research and Do ek Tment Center I 'nit ersit, of Pittsburgh David Rockefeller, Jr. Vice Chairman Rockefeller Family & Assouates ' 1.-', ) .i. 0 ih,tild f.)/ Il 11,slees Adam Urbanski President Rochester Teachers' Association Robert F. Wagner, Jr. President New York City Board of Education Kay R. Whitmore Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer Eastman Kodak Company 13,4 COMMISSION ON THE SKILLS OF THE AMERICAN WORKFORCE BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES Ira C. Magaziner, Chair ha C. Magaziner is currently President ot S1S. Inc.. a consulting firm providing assistance to groups addressing economic and sotial issues facing America m the 1990 s. Preciously. he was Founder and President of Telesis, an knternational consulting firm specializing m corporate strateg) and economic de% elopment policy. Mr Magaziner continues to be a consulting associate ith Telesis Prior to founding Telesis in 1979. Mr Magaziner worked tor the Boston Consulting Group During his career, he has led hundreds ot comprehensne strateg studies for companies based m ten countries He has also led ..tudies tor gm ernments in S eden. Ireland, Canada, Great Britain and Israel. Mr Magazmer graduated from Brown Unnersity and attended Ba College th ford as a Rhodes Scholar Author of numeious books, Mr Magazmers latest book is Me Went U ar Itmule the Global Business Battles .sbaping America's Funin, He is a member ot the Board of Trustees of the National Center on Education and the Ecorvimy William E. Brock, Co-Chair E Brock is Senior Partner ot The Brock Gmun, a Washington, D C. consulting firm specializing in international trade, human resources and ince,ment strategies Senator Brock was a member ot President Reagan's Cabinet sen ing from 1981 to 1985 as United States Trade Representati, e. the President's chief trade policy ack iser and ihtemational trade negotiator. and served from 1985 to.198' as Secretary of Labor As Secretar. he initiated the landmark study of orkforce and workplace demographic trends ;-3 entitled Workforce 2000 Win* and WorkersPr the 21st Century, achieved major pension reform legislation and reinvigorated efforts at labormanagement cooperation. Senator Brock soled four terms in the House of Representatives until he was elected Senator from Tennessee in 1970 In 1977, Senator Brock served as Chairman of the Republican National Committee. Senator Brock currently serves on President Bush's Education Policy Advisory Committee, is Chairman of IT. S Labor Secretary Dole's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) and is Chairman of the National Endowment for Democracy. He is also a Serior Counselor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.0 , Chairman of the International Advisory Committee ot the Unit ersity of South Carolina and President of the National Academy Foundation Ray Co-Chair Ray Marshall holds the Make and Bernard Rapoport Centennial Chair in Economics and Public Affairs at the L. B.1, School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and serced as President Carter's Secretary of Labor As President Carter's chief advisor on labor matters, Mr Marshall administered laws and programs in employment and training, labor statistics, labtir-management relations and other matters affecting the nation's workforce Mr. Marshall serves as a member of the Advisory ommittee to the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Science. and Engineering Educa1 94 Bio,Lvapbr( (r/ sket, non and is a member of the Boards of the Anwncan Academy of Work and Learning, the Quality Education for Minorities Network and the Interactive Training Institute. He is a Trustee of Carnegie Corporation of New York and served as a Carnegie Forum Advisory Council member. Among his recent publications IN Unheard l'oices 1.cthor and Economic Policy in a Competitive World (1987) Mr MaNhall is a mernber of tlw National Center's Board of Trustees Robert M. Atkinson, H Director of Academk Pnigrams tor the School of Business and Indnstry at Florida A Ni University in Tallahassee, Fk Robert NI. AtI:m.on is a member of the liciard of Directors for the Strategic Business Imestois Devdopment Corporation w here he served as Chairman of the Board from 1985 to 198' Pri or to obtaining his current pc)siticin in August 1989, lw was Director of tlw Dicision of Management Sciences at the Schocil of Business and Industry from 1986 to 1989 From 1982 to 1986. lw was an Associate Professor in the Division of Managernent Sciences, From 1974 to 1982, Mr Atkinson was an Assistant Professor of Iliismess Administration at the College of CAmmwrce and licismess Administration at the Unicersity of Illinois Mr Atkinscin was a First Lieutenant in the Signal Corps. United States Army Owen Bieber Owen Bieber is President of tlw t ntcd Automobile Workers In 1980, he was elected Intermitic nu! Vice P-esident. lie was elected President of the International limon first in 1983 and again in )986. AN President, Mr. Bieber has promoted gle..tel job security tor industrial workers by helping to pioneer contractual app( )aches, such as the creation of job banks, and has impkmented number of innmative education pn)grams Mr. Bieber began his career with the Brographu al Meek ho UAW in 1949. He is a Vice President and an Executive Council member of the AFL-CIO and serves on the Boards of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the United Way of America and New Detroit. He is a member of the Michigan Governor's Commission on Jobs and Economic Development, the Economic Alliatwe of Michigan and the President's Advisory' Committee for Trade Negotiations. Edward J. Carlough Edward J Carlough is General President of the Sheet Metal Workers' International Association, AFL-CIO He was elected President of the union in 1970 and has been reelected without opposition at each successive convention. He has helped create the National Training Fund for apprentices and journeymen, a Stabilization Agreement to hdp unemployed workers and the Natiomil Energy Management Institute. Prior to beconung President, he served 13 years as the Sheet Metal Union Research Director and Organming Director Mr. C.arlough became a Sheet Metal Workers' apprentice in New York City in 1949. Currently, he serves as Vice President of the AFL-CIO Building and Constniction Trades Department and a member of the General Board of the AFL-C10 Anthony P. Carnevale Anthony P. Carnevale is tlw Vice President of National Affairs and Chief Emnornist for the American Society for Training and Devdopment (ASTI)) in Alexandria, Virginia. From 198, througi- 1988, Mr. Carnevale was Chairman of the Fiscal Policy Task Force fi)r the Council on Compefis veness From 1981 to 1982, he was com(iderator for the White HoUNC Conference on Productivity In 1978, Mr Carnevale served as the Government Affairs Director tor the American 195 136 Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). Prior to his work with AFSCME, Mr. Carnevale served in the Congress as a staff member in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate Mr. Carnevale's government service also includes work in the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Mr Carnevale was a co-author of the principal affidavit in Rodnguez v. San Antonio, a landmark Supreme Court case arguing for equal educational opportunity. Mr Carnevale has authored several books and monographs on training in the workplace Mr Carnevale holds a Ph D. from the Maxwell School of Public Affairs of Syracuse lniversity He is a member of the Niard of Trustees of the National Center Paul J. C muette, Jr. Paul j Choquette. Jr is President of Gilbane Building Company in Providence, Rhode Island Appointed President in 1981, he is the sixth consecutiv e family member to sene as President since the wmpany's founding in 18'3 Befiire assuming his present role, Mr Choquette served as General Counsel, Vice President and Executive Vice President at Gilbane Currently. he also sen es as Chairman of the Board of Gilbane Properties. Inc , a real estate development subsidiary of Gilbane Building Company Mr Choquette serves as a Trustee Emeritus of Brow n ersity and Vice Chairman and member of the Board of Direcuirs of the Rhcide Island Port Authcirity and E«inomic Devekipment Corpiranon He is also a past Chairman of the New England Council Prior to jciining Gilbane, Mr Cluxjuette served as legal munsel to then Rhode Island Governor John 11 Chafee kir two years Richard Cohon Richard Cohon is President of C N Burman Company in Paterson, New Jersey Mr Cohon also is an ahisor to the President's Commissuin on Vocational Edue anon Ile serves as a member t of the Board of Directors of the National Strategy Information Center and the United Skills Investment Corporation and is a national advisor of the Center for New Leadership. Mr. Cohon is a member of the Association for Manufacturing Excellence and the Young President3' Organization. He is Chairman and Founder of YPO's Manufacturing Project and Chairman of the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences' Education and Training Committee. Badi G. Foster Badi G. Fa:!er is President of the AEtna Institute for Corporate Education, a position he has held since' its inception in 1981. He is responsible for comorate education programs in human resources development, management, education, bumness strategy and organization effectiveness. Mr Foster also oversees the Institute's management and consulting activities, educational technology and research and AEtna's educational involvement with outside organizations Prior to pining AEtna, Mr Foster held several positions at Harvard University including: Director of Field Experience Program, Graduate School of Education, Chairman, Hispanic Study Group; Assistant Director, J F. Kennedy Institute of Politics; and Visiting Professor in Afro-American Studies He has published a number of articles on business, education and community development and served in several public service capacities at the Federal. state and local government level. Thomas Gonzales Thomas Gonzales s Chancellor of the Seattle Community College District VI, the Iargest of 23 community colkge districts in the State of Washington. As Chancaor, he also serves as Chiet Executive Officer. From 1981 to 1989. Dr Gonzales served as President of Linn-Benton Community College in Albany. Oregon, and from q 6 111().e:Mphic skett hes 1981 to 1989 was Adjunct Professor at Oregon State University, School of Education. He was appointed by Oregon's Governor to serve on the Board of the State Apprenticeship and Training Council from 1985 to 1986. Prior to these experiences, Dr. Gonzales was Campus Vice President of the Community College of Denver, Auraria Campus, Dean of Instruction at San Jose City College and a consultant to the Wyoming Higher Education Council. Dr. Gonzales is a member of the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges (AACJO and is Vice Chair of the AACJC Commission on Improving Minority Education. He was a former member of the AACJC Board of Directors and Chair of its membership committee. While in Oregon, Dr. Gonzales served on the Private Industry Council (PIC), and now serves on the PIC Board in Seattle, Washington. Rear Admiral W. J. Holland, Jr., USN (Retired) .Ierry Holland is President of the Armed Forces Communications and Education Association Educational Foundation, which sponsors scholarships and provides professional training in the disciplines related to defense command, communications. Intelligence, computers and information management systems. Rear Admiral HoLand served on active duty for 32 years, primarily in nuclear submarines. He was a teacher and supervisor of training at every grade including command of the Navy's largest technical training facility, the Submarine School. He was the United States Naval Academy's first Director of Professional Development, a department he founded. Rear Admiral Holland has written on submarine warfare. national strategic policy, technical training and maritime affairs. Blograpbu. al Sleek lw, .197 James R. Houghton James R. Houghton is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Corning Incorporated. Since joining Corning in 1962, Mr. Houghton has served as European Manager, Vice President, General Manager, Director and Vice Chairman and was elected Chairman in 1983. Houghton is past Chairman of the Business Council of New York State and a member of The Business Roundtable, Council on Foreign Relaiions and the Business Committee for the Arts. He is also a Director of Dow Corning Corporation, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, CBS, Inc., J.P. Morgan Company and Owens-Corning Fiberglass Corperation. He serves as a Trustee of the Corning Museum of Glass, the Corning Glass Works Foundation and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. James B. Hunt, Jr. James B. Hunt, Jr. served Ps North Carolina's first two-term Governor, holding office from 1977 to 1985. Under his leadership, the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, the Microelectronics Center of North Carolina and the North Carolina Business Committee for Educat, in were all established. Governor Hunt chaired the National Governors' Association Task Force on Technological Innovation, the Education Commission of the States and its Task Force on Education for Economic Growth that produced Action for Excellence, one of the major education reform reports of 1983. Now an attorney in private practice with the firm of Poyner and Spruill, he was a member of the Carnegie Forum's Task Force on Teaching as a Profession, chaired the Planning Group that chartered the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and is currently Chair of the National Board. He is also a member of the National Center's Board of Trustees. 138 John R. Hurley John R. Hurley is Vice President and Director of Corporate Training and Educational Resources for The Chase Manhattan Bank, Previously, he was Director of Training at the Insurance Company of North America and has held senior level human resource and marketing positions at the Xerox Corporation. Early in his career, he was a public school teacher and school administrator. Currently, he is active on the Council for Continuing Education and is the President of the American Society for Training and Development John E. Jacob John E Jacob is President and Chief Executice Officer of the National Urban League. Inc., a position he has held since 1982. Author of a weekly newspaper column. "To Be Equal." which appears in more than OM newspapers. Mr. Jacob has served as Executit e Vice President of the National Urban League. Inc from 1979 to 1981 and President of the Washington, D C Urban League from 19"5 to 1979 He also acted as Exec utive Director of the San Diego I 'rban League wnn 1970 to 1975 Mr Jacoi, !legan his Urban Leapue career in 1965 as Director of Education .ind Youth Incentn es at NI 71. in Washington, DC During his tenure, the Urban League :las offered yotmg people various workforce training, skills deN elopment and employability programs and has worked directly ith school systems to improt e the school-tow ork transition Mr. Jacob currently sen es as Chairman of Howard Unn ersity 's Board of Trustees and on the Boards of Local Initiatives Support Corporation (USC), New York Telephone, Continental Corporation and Coca-Cola Enterprises Thomas H. Kean Thomas H. Kean is President of Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. Prior to assuming the presidency, he was Governor of New Jersey from 1981 to 1989. In 1987, Governor Kean chaired the Republican Governors' Associatior He was a member of the Executive Committee of the National Governors' Association, Chairman of NGA's Task Force on International Education and is a member of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, He has also served as Chairman of the Education Commission of the States and was a member of the Carnegie Forum's Task Force on Teaching as a Profession Before being elected Governor, Governor Kean served ten years in the New Jersey State Assembly holding positions of Minority Leader. Majority Leader and Speaker. In 1984, Governor Kean was named Man of the Year by the New Jersey NAACP. Before bucoming involved in politics, he was an American history high school teacher. He is a member of the National Center's Board of Trustees. William H. Kolberg William H Kolberg is Piesident of the National Alliance of Business, a position he has held since 1980 Prior to joining the National Alliance of Business, he was Vice President for Public Affairs ot the Union Camp Corporation, President of Kolberg 8t Associates and consultant to The Business Roundtable Before entering private industry, he served as Assistant Secretary of Labor and Administrator of the Employment and Training Administration from 1973 to 1977 He was the Assistant Director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Executive Office of the President from 1971 to 1973. Mr Kolberg's range of experience includes policy planning and administration, national leadership roles in employment and training, education and welfare reform and authorship of national workforce 198 By,graph ;cal sleek lieN quality initiatives. In 1970, he was the recipient of the Distinguished Achievement Award of the U.S. Department of Labor. He is the author of Preparing Manpower Legislation and the editor of The Dislocated Worker. William Lucy William Iiicy was elected International Secretary/ Treasurer, the second highest national office, of the more than one-milhon member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO, in 1972. A civil engineer by trade, Mr Lucy is Vice President of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Department, the Maritime Trades Department and the Department for Professional Employees. He serves on the Boards of the African-American Institute, Americans for Democratic Action and Commission on Working Women. He is a member of the National Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and the National Labor Advisory Council of the March of Dimes Foundation He is President and a Fountkr of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CIITU), an organization of union leaders and rank-and-tile members dedicated to focusing on the needs of Black and minorit group wo-kers Margaret LA. ..lacVicar 1arg.1 rei MacVicar holds the Cecil and Ida Green Chair in Education at the Massachusetts Institute ot Technoh)gy, w here she is Dean for Undergraduate Education and Professor of Physical Science From 1983 to 198'. she vas Vice President ot the Carnegie Institution of Washington In 19-9 she was Chancellm's Distinguished Protessm at the Uniersity of California at Berkelt.1 Dean MacVicar is Chair of the National sciene hmnalti( n s Advisory C()Illinittee on Education and Human Resources and Co-Chair ot the National Council on Science and Thographic al Sketches Technology's Project 2061 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Professor MacVicar was a Trustee of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and a member of the Carnegie Council on Policy Studies in Higher Education. She is a member of the Corporations of Charles S. Draper Laboratory and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, a Trustee of Radcliffe College and the Boston Museum of Science, and a Director of Exxon Corporation and W.H. Brady Co. Dean MacVicar is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and holds patents and is published in the field of electronic materials Eleanor Holmes Norton Eleanor Holmes Norton, Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center, was appointed by President Carter as the first wonun to chair the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission As EEOC Chair, Professor Norton administered Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Equal Pay Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act and is highly regarded for her work in deveh)ping equal emphyment law and policy. Professor Norton is an authority on labor force and employment matters. anti-discnmination policy, family, education and poverty concerns. She has co-authored a book entitled-Sax-Discrimination and the Late. Causes and Remedies. She has been named one 01 the One Hundred Most Important Women in America. has received 53 honorary degrees and serves on the Boards of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Social Change, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Pitney Bowes Corporation and the Stanley Works Company. 140 Karen Nussbaum Faren Nussbaum is the Executhe Director of 9to5. National Association of Working Women. thi leading membership organization lot the nation.... 20 million office workers. 9to5 combines activism, research and public education to win rights and respect for women who work in offices A former secretary herself. Ms. Nussbaum has been organizing office workers since the early 1970's ancl helped found one of t!te first 9toi chapters in Boston in 1973. Today 9to5 has cner 14.000 members with 26 chapters nationwide. She also sen es as President of District 925. a national union for office workers under the Sen ice Employees International Union. AFL-C10 Ms Nussbaum has co-authored Solutions jiff the Neu. Work Rove jOr a Aeu. Socail Contract and 91o5. The WOrking innan s Guide to Office Surma! Peter J. Pestillo Peter( Pestillo is Vice President of Corporate Relations and Dnersitied Businesses for the Ford Motor Company He has responsibility for the Company's Employee Relations. Public Affairs and Grwernmental Affairs Staffs. and for Ford Aerospace Corporation and Ford New Holland, Inc. Mr Pestillo is a member of the 13(iard Of Direcuirs of Rouge 'steel Company and Par.k Ridge Ccirpcirati(in, parent firm cif Hertz Cairpora- non He rece.ied his law degree from Georgetmn Unnersity and is a graduate of the Achanced Management Program at Han ard 'nn ersity Philip H. Power Philip II Po- r is Founder. Owner and Chairman of the Board (if Suburban Communications On-poi-anon. a group ot c(inimunity newspapers thniughout Michigan and around Cincinnati, Ohio Mr Power serves on the board of Directors ot the Mkhigan Grow th Capital Foundation, the Power Foundation. the World Press Frc nii Committee and is a Trustee of the National Center on Education and the Econonly V.- is a member of the University of Michic4an's Boa,1 of Regents, chairs the Michigan Job Trai'ting 0 ordinating Council and is a member of Governcr Blanchard's Cabinet.Council on Human I -.vestment and Commission on Jobs and Economic Development. Mr. Power is widely recognized for his highly regarded reorganization of Michigan's lob training programs, as well as for his development of an integrated labor market policy for the state. Lauren B. Resnick Lauren B. Resnick is Director of the Lc ming Research and Development Center and Professor of Psychology and Education at the University of Pittsburgh. In 1986, Professor Resnick was President of the American Educational Research Association and from 1979 to 1980 was President of the American Psychological Association's Division of Educatiimal Psychology. She has been a member of the National Research Council's Commission on Bektvioral and Social Sciences and Education, the Board of Trustees of the Cirnegie Foundation for the Advaocement of Teaching and the Educational Testing Service. Ms. Resnick currently serves on the Mathematical Sciences Education Board and on U. S. Labor Secretary Dole's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS). Professor Resnick is the founder and editor of Cognition andInstruction. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Center. 2 o ii Biographical Sketches Kjell-Jon Rye Kie II-Jon Rye is a teacher at Bellevue High School in Bellevue, Washington. A teacher in this school since 1984, Mr. Rye established the Technology Edo:anon Program, which includes instruction in the following areas: robotics, lasers, computers, aerospace and biomedical technology, construction, manufacturing, communications and transportation technology and mechanical, electronic, architectural and civil engineering. He is an advisor to the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment on issues relating to technology Ind education of youth. Mr. Rye was a member of the Washington State Advanced Technology Advisory Board, which ad..ised the Governor on policies relating to the impacts of advanced technology on education. He is currently a member of the Technology Education Advisory Council of the International Technology Education Association and sits on the Editorial Board of Educational Digest. He is currently on leave at the Center for Educational Renewal at the Unii ersny of .Washington orking ith Dr. John I Good lad. Howard D. Samuel Howard D Samuel is currently President of the Industrial Union Department, a semi-autonomous mganiiation a:;sociated with the AFL-CIO. He has had a forty-year career in the labor movement. Prior to his role at IUD, Mr. Samuel was Deputy Undek Secretary of Labor for International Affairs. In that position, he directed the Labor Department's Bureau of International Labor Affairs and w as responsible for international atm files. Mr Samuel has seri ed on various commissions including: the National Manpower Athisory Council, me Coinnission on Population Grmth and the American Future and the President's Commission on Compentheness. He 2 t I/ hcs series as Trustee of the Brookings Institution, Martin Luther King Center, Work in America Institute and the Council on Competitiveness and is a member of the Defense Science Board. *John Sculley John Sculley joined Apple Computer, Inc. as President and Chief Executive Officer in 1983 and was elected Chairman of the Board in 1986. Mr. Sculley has led Apple to a top position in the personal computer industry, focusing on technology for business and education. Prior to joining Apple, Mr. Sculley was President and Chief Executive Officer of Pepsi-Cola Company. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including Advertising Man of the Year, the Joseph E. Wharton Business-Statesman Leadership Award and UCLA's Anderson Graduate School of Management Exemplary Leadership in Management Award. Most recently, he was chosen CEO of the Decade for Marketing by the Financial News Network Mr. Sculley serves an the Board of the international Foundation for the Survival and Development of Humanity, an East-West `codper5tile efforfon "hutiian"rigfits, ectuC-aticin, arms reduction, energy and the environment. He also serves on the SEI Board at the Center for Advanced Studies and Management and on the Board of Overseers, both at the Wharton School, on the Board ot Advisors at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University and on the Board of Trustees at Brown University. Mr. Sculley is the author of the best selling autobiography, Odyssey, Pepsi to Apple. Mr. Sculley series as the Chairman of the National Center Board of Trustees, 1)2 William J. Spring Since 1984. William J. Spring has been the Vice President ot District Community Affairs at the Federal Rest_ e Bank of Boston. Prior to his current role. Mr spring .isa consultant to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and President of the Boston Prn ate Industry Council from 1983 to 1985 w here he w:is extensively imohed in setting up the Boston Compact. From 19-- through 1981, Mr Spring w as the Associate Director ftir Emphiment Policy with the tIomestic Polic; Staff at the White House. He is the author and co-author of numerous articles on mph); ment policy as seen in 71w Aim,' 104 Times Magavne. Me Aim,. Republic, 71w Washington Post and The Baylor, Globe Mr Spring authored a working paper for the National Center entitled, -From Solution' to Catalyst. A New Role for Federal Edutation and Training D'illars." Anthony.). Trujillo Anthon J Trujillo is superintendent of the Sweetwater [Akin" Nith Schoiil District in Chula \ ma, Californ.a Nun to be«nning a Superintendent. Mr Trujillo was a teacher, print pal and administrator and has taught at the unnecsity .1e% el. Mr Trujillo sened as Chairman of the Educational Management and Evaluation Commission tor the California State Board of Edut anon from PI'S to 1980 and Chairman of tlw State Ctimmission on Sclusil GMernance and Manage- ment from I 984 to 1985 Currenth, he is .1 member 01 the San Diego United Wa; Board of Duet. tors Marc S. Tucker \tart S Tut ker is President of the National Center on Edmation and the Ett non 1k. as printi- pal author of the Center's report, 7b Seettre Our Funny The &demi Role hi Ilducation. Prior to the establishment of the National Center in Jarman 1988. w as Executne Director of the Carnegie Fiirum on Edthation and the Et onomy Mr. Tucker sened as Staff Director and principal author for the Forum's report, A Nation Prepared. 'leachers for the 21st Century. Mr. Tucker serves as a member of the Board of visitors of the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Wake Forest University. the Board of Visitors of the University of Pittsburgh's School of Education and the Board of Directors of the National Alliance of Business Center for Excellence in Education. Mr. Tucker is also a Professor of Education at the University of Rochester. Laura D'Andrea Tyson Liura D'Andrea Tyson is Director of Research at the Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy (BRIE) and Professor of Economics at the Unix ersity of California at Berkeley She was a visiting professor at Harvard Business School during the 1989 to 1990 academic year. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of California. she was an Assistant Professor of Economics at .Pnuceton University. She f a Trwifiber of the Cuomo Commission on Trade and Competitiveness. the Leadership Council of Rebuild America and the Council on Foreign Relations. She has served as a consultant to the President's Commission on Industrial Competitiveness. Council on Competitneness, Western Governors' Association, World Bank. the Office of Technology Assessment and RAND Corporation Ms. Tyson has written numerons books on the economics of competitiveness including: .4inerican Industry in International Competition (1983), Me Dynamics (?f7rade and Employment (1988) and Politics and Pmductwity 71w Real Story qf Houjapan ItOrks (1989). She is currently working on a book on trade policy for the InAtute of International Economics in Washington, D.0 2 P 2 niugltip/M. il/ Sktic bes Kay R. Whitmore Kay R. Whitmore is Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, New York. He began his career at Kodak as an engineer in film manufacturing in 1957. Mr. Whitmore serves as a member of the Board of Dflectors of The Chase Manhattan Corporation, The Business Roundtable, the Business Council of the State of New York, the University of Rochester and the International Museum of Photography at the George Eastman House. He is Chairman of the Industrial Management Council of Rochester. He is also a member of the National Center's Board of Trustees. Alan L Wurtzel Alan I.. Wurtzel is Chairman of the Board and former Chief Executive Officer ot Circuit City ,Stores., 1ndet his.leadership: Circuit City has become the lacgest and most profilahre SpeCialty retailer of bran&pame consumer electronics and appliances in the United States with sales in excess of $2 billion. Prior to joining Circuit Oty Stores, Mr. Wurtzel was a Washington, D.C. attorney From 1986 to 1988, Mr. Wuitzel served as President of Operation Independence. a nonprofit organization whose goal is to assist Israel io become economically independent. Currently he serves as a member of the Board of Visitors of Virginia Commonwealth Uni4rsity, Trustee of Oberlin College, Director of Office Depot (the nation's largest office speciality retail store chain), Washington Project for the Arts and the Greater Washington Educationa! Telecoramu-' nications Association, w hich oNrates the public radio and television stations in Washington. D.C. 2 P 3 , Biographical Sketcho 144 COMMISSION ON THE SKILLS OF THE AMERICAN WORKFORCE COMMISSION ASSOCIATES DavidJ. Barram Vice President Corporate Affairs Apple Computer, Inc. Eugene C. Baten Consultant AEtna Institute for Corporate Educatum Ellen Bravo Associate Director 9to5, National Association of Working \X omen !ewe S. Lercbe Education Projects De%elopment Manager Ford Motor Compan David Luther senior Vice President. tairpi nate Director-Quala Owning inciwpinated John R. McCarthy senior IC, President and Mecum- )111(w.tte Relatum, Eastman Kt Klak compallN Frank Musick Duo. it n special PH netts tilted Automobile Vc ()ricer, Stephanie G. Robinson Director Education and Career Development National Urban League, Inc. Freeman Smith Director State and Local Government Relations Corning Incorporated Billy J. Tidwell Director of Research Washington Operations National, I irban league,. Inc. James D. Van Erden Administrator Office of Work-Based Learning S Department of Labor 2n 4 45 ASSOCI4410 COMMISSION ON THE SKILLS OF THE AMERICAN WORKFORCE CASE STUDY RESEARCH TEAM AND STAFF Apple Computer, Inc. Lucille Ueltzen Manager, Apple University Operations Center for the Study of Human Resources University of Texas at Austin Robert Glover Research .eissociate The Chase Manhattan Bank Charlotte Pollard Vice President, Learning Resources Laura Coyne Second Vice President, Learning Resources Cresap, a Towers Perrin company Eugene R. Smoley. Jr. Vice President Eastman Kodak Company Susan Connolly Director of Education Development National Alliance of Business Betsy Brown Ruzzi Senior Project Manager. Youth and Education Programs Pete Carlson Director, Economic and Policy Analysis National Center on Education and the Economy Joan L. Wills, Project Manager Vice President Jana L. Carlisle Staff Associate Tina Isaacs Staff Associate Larry A. McKnight Netw At Administrator Ann Marie Potte. Staff Assistant Dennis Lyons Director of Technical Education Resources Patrina Smith Administrative Av+istant International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Ken Edwards Director of Technical Training Case ctudy Team and Staff 20 5 Cathy D. Spangenburg Staff Assistant Susan Sullivan Director, Administrative Services 246 Sheet Metal Workers' International William J. Maroni Association Consultant Jerry Olejnkzak Administrator. National Training Fund Debra Moms Administrative Assistant Palnwr C Pitcher Consultant SJS, Inc. Karen Banijas Assi mate Sarah H Ck Adam! Ass( x. late Christine I icenan Associate scan Rot ha Ass(wiate Marione Tarme Ass( x. late Chip oung Aoc late Telesis/Cresap, a Towers Perrin company Edv,ard J Caron, case kain Ci)ordina fiw Managing Consultant ,tephen V" coon Consultant Cnthia Isabella Administrame Assistant nn M. Margherio Research Associate Norene M. Rickson Consultant Denise Rkketson Administratie Assistant Deborah Rosen Research Associate TPF&C, a Towers Perrin company Karl F. Price Principal United Automobile Workers/Chrysler National Training Center Linell Burrell, Jr. Grant and Training Specialist U.S. Department of Labor Ambrose "Red" Bittner Chief of National Priigram Caxirdination and Training Group Ihircau ot Apprenticeship and Training Janet Pease Moore Exec uticc Assistant Office of Work-Based Learning 2 6 1 4- taw Study:team and Mall Publications Order Form National Center on Education and the Economy Publications Quantity Cost Caminisston on the Skills if the American Workfiree America's Choke: high skills or low wages! The Report gthe Commtsston on the Skill, cf. the American Workfarce ISM 0-962706,3-0-2 1-9 copies $18 0(1 each ppd. 10+ $15.00 each ppd America's Choke: high skills or low wages! Supporting Works (Dm/Inter:A /he OnnenIvant's odernalional, labor rnarkel and trulusm. rewart-ht Omtimmtott on the Ski& of the American WOrkihnv $15 each pptl /Wend Role Vertex To Secure Our Future: The Federal Role in Education Aational Center on Education and the Economy S-.50 eat h ppd Commimioned Papers - S-1.00 each pptl The Yoke of Special Education: How To Break It Alan Gartner and Dondhy Kerzner Lipskr Training America: Strategies for the Nation Anthony P carnecale and Janet Johnston Higher Education and American Competitiveness Ernest A trilion From "Solution" to Catalyst: A New Role for Federal Education and Training Dollars ilham I. Spring, Also Available A Nation Prepared: Teachers for the 21st Century The Kepon if the Thsklorce on Teaching as a Prolession Jar the Canteqie ',arum on Education and the &mono' ISM\ 0-9616685-0-4 1-10 copies $9.95 each ppd. 11-25 $8.95 each ppd. + $6 95 each ppd. 2n 7 TOTAL: Please complete the following: Purchase Order 0. Name: Title. Institution. Address: City: State: Zip. Telephone: ( Please make purchase order or check payable to: National Center on Education and the Economy Send orders to: National Center on Education and the Economy P.O. Box 10b70 Rochester, New York 14610 All orders must be prepaid by check or accompanied by a purchase order. Allow 4 6 weeks for delivery. No refunds for overstock. 28 11)(' Rty)01/ (Y. The atillinisSioll on the Skills of the Anieriam Workforce' 00 2-'00 3 2 tr