New Developments In Employment Training: Federal Mandates for Change

If the last four years of CETA gave the private sector a chance to get its feet wet in the great sea of employment and training programs for the disadvantaged, the federal government's new Job Training Partnership Act of 1982 throws business in from the high board, hoping it will swim. Private sector participation in planning, monitoring, evaluating, and allocating resources for all federally-funded employment and training (E&T) activities will be mandated (as of next October 1); their representatives on Private Industry Councils in each area will be equal partners with local elected officials in deciding how funds will be administered and programs managed. But how much that mandate will be expressed in real involvement remains to be seen. The past twenty years of "involving the private sector" in E&T has taught us that good will is not enough, that a mandated role can be played with little conviction, and that serving the disadvantaged is difficult for the private sector. The crucial questions of how, and how much business and industry can be involved in serving both their own needs and those of disadvantaged youth and adults remain the province of local planners. The task of the 1980s remains the same as it was before the passage of the new law: finding ways to develop E&T policies and plans that maximize the involvement of employers. A true public/private partnership cannot be accomplished by national fiat; it must be based on specific local conditions