In Harry Holzer and Demetra Nightingale, eds., Workforce Policies for a Changing

Americans of virtually all economic circumstances confront a more complicated and challenging job market than anytime in the postwar period. Frontline workers face insecurity due to outsourcing and reengineering and large numbers of working poor have not shared in America’s prosperity. Even CEOs must cope with a world in which their job security is suddenly at risk. While the problems of CEOs may not be an appropriate topic for public policy, the more widespread challenges certainly are. The goal of this paper is to think through what role the public Employment and Training (E&T) system can play in helping people succeed in today’s job market. More than a decade after President Clinton campaigned on the theme of “making work pay ” a remarkably large number of adult Americans work yet are poor or near poor. In 2004 the poverty rate among people who work was 6.1 percent, an increase from the 5.8 percent rate of 2003. In fact, in 2004 2,896,000 adults worked full time and full year yet were in poverty. More strikingly, 5,062,000 families had a member who worked full-time/full year yet had a household income of below 150 percent of the poverty line and 9,230,000 families with full time/full year workers were below 200 percent of th