This book brings together leading scholars and practitioners working in the job skills field to examine what research tells us about the current state of the U.S. skills system in comparative perspective and the changes that are required for the future.

Although nearly two decades have elapsed since the turn of the 21st century, the U.S. approach to education, training, and workforce development still largely operates on a 20th-century model. Workforce preparation-a linear pipeline from K-12 education to possibly college and then a job-is similar to what it was several decades ago. Labor market policies designed for the industrial age still prevail. Labor market signals and other information flows between members of the current and future workforce, education and training institutions, and employers have not kept pace with the revolutionary changes in information processing. New technologies are often viewed as threats to the world of work rather than as opportunities to enable the labor force to be agile and adaptable to further innovation and change. Recognizing the value of interdisciplinary collaboration and systems thinking, RAND Corporation researchers, supported by RAND Corporation investment funds, conducted this study to develop a systems-level, blue-sky approach to conceptualizing and visualizing a 21st-century U.S. workforce development and employment system. This report is the first step in moving the United States to a system that accounts for workers' needs for lifelong learning, employers' continuously changing workforce requirements, rapid and often disruptive changes in technology, and the ever-evolving nature of work. This publication should be of interest to educators, business leaders, policymakers, researchers, and other stakeholders who are engaged in issues relating to workforce education and training and the future of work.

Not Just Getting By chronicles groundbreaking thinking and research on new and innovative workforce development initiatives to create flexible and collaborative programs and policies. Author Mary Gatta builds on extensive interviews and focus groups with 128 women enrolled in a U.S. Department of Labor pilot program in New Jersey focusing on how they attain education through online courses while working, raising their children, and dealing with the many demands on their lives. The book addresses three main areas: It engages current policy debates demonstrating how online learning and other forms of flexible learning opportunities will reorganize the way federal and state governments deliver skills training, especially working poor single mothers, within the context of Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF), the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and other legislated workforce development programs in the 21st century. It explores the development of the program and qualitatively details the experiences of the women as they spend a year receiving online learning courses. It explores how to rethink workforce development so that online learning for low wage workers and other innovative programs can be successful. As both a piece of scholarship and a case study in successful policy development, this text will be a useful supplement for courses in the sociology of labor, women's studies, or adult education. It will also serve policymakers and others who are looking for a model of training and skills delivery that actually works.