In a recent interview with Richard Deutsch, the editors stressed that the time is ripe to take a hard look at the issue of publicly funded training programs:

Barnow:	"There have been a lot of changes in the legislation that authorizes and supports training programs. Secondly, the world of work and training has changed a lot in recent years: we have a lot more dislocated workers than we used to; welfare has changed, too. We now have a very different kind of welfare system since passage of welfare reform. So you have major changes in the nation's income support and major training systems, and there have been major changes in the economy. So it's more important than ever to take a careful look at how we train people."
King:	"One of the debates that is going on around the country is what to do about growing inequality in terms of earnings and wealth. I think training can potentially play a very important role in that. What this book offers is a good review of different strategies that might be successful in helping address some of these inequalities over time at the local level. If you look at recent reforms at the federal and state level, you will notice that decisionmaking is being devolved to the community level. That's where the attention of this book focuses: the strategies that would increase the odds for success for publicly funded employment and training programs."
Deutsch:	"What are some of the leading strategies that you identify in the book?"
King:	"We identify seven major strategies. One of the most important is that publicly funded training programs need to be demand-driven, ought to be a response to labor market demands. Too often, as you look at the array of programs we've had over the years, to a large extent they've been oriented toward the supply side of the market."
Barnow:	"Let me add to that. Whatever vendors that were available to provide services, those were the services that got provided, the assumption being that if you train workers, there would be jobs. But what we're saying in the book is that you really need to focus on where the jobs are, not on what services are available right now. Another important, but somewhat controversial, strategy is to focus on occupational training, rather than immediate employment; focus on training that is intensive rather than short term. This goes against some of the current thinking in welfare programs and to some extent against the thrust of the new Workforce Investment Act. We're urging people to take a good look at what we know about training and what works. Our contributing authors find that longer-term training can be effective and that the emphasis on Work First doesn't get around the problem that if you don't give people the skills they need, they are not going to be able to become self-sufficient."
King:	"Several of our contributing authors point out that if you focus on immediate employment strategies, early measurements show they are fairly successful. But if you look at them over time, you find that real occupational training will overtake those more immediate strategies in terms of effectiveness."
Deutsch:	"Some people would answer that by saying that if you find people jobs, they will find training on the job."
King:	"That's not entirely true. In fact, access to and financing for on-the-job training is unequal."
Barnow:	"If you look at who gets trained among incumbent workers, it's primarily those with higher skills. Those with college degrees get much more training than the low-skilled workforce. We're looking primarily at training targeted at people with specific needs, and those people are not getting a lot of the training."
Deutsch:	"So the tendency today for many public agencies is to place people in jobs and go on to the next batch of people who need work?"
King:	"Exactly. That's true in welfare employment programs and increasingly in the Workforce Investment Act. The problem with this is that if you look at the economy right now, we've got roughly 4 percent unemployment. And in some communities unemployment is lower. So it's cheap to do Work First and send people out into the market without training. Secondly, with low unemployment, they will find a job, but it won't necessarily boost their career potential in terms of earnings and steady employment."
Barnow:	"Welfare recipients can often get work in this kind of economy, but the majority of them lose work within a year, whereas if you provide training there's more hope for them to be able to keep their jobs."
Deutsch:	"Do you foresee public policy turning in this direction in the future?"
Barnow:	"Right now the pendulum is fairly far in the Work First area. I see some signs that it is beginning to swing back toward more training, but we feel it needs to move further in the direction of training."
Deutsch:	"What are some of the other strategies identified in your book?"
Barnow:	"One of the things we focus on is the importance of getting employers involved."
King:	"We talk about engaging employers, which goes beyond involvement. Traditionally we've had employers as advisers on training programs, but now we're talking about getting employers engaged at all steps of the program process, so they're helping to design curricula and so on. We've seen examples of where that's proved successful."
Deutsch:	"What impact do you hope the book will have?"
Barnow:	"As training programs are reformed at the state and local level, this book will give people a way to reexamine some central issues, particularly the Work First versus work training issues."
King:	"That's the most important policy issue that we would like people to pay attention to, the idea that training can be valuable. In the last couple of years, there has not been enough attention paid to the fact that training programs can be effective for low-skilled adults. We'd like to see people take another look at the data."

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