Abstract

Knowledge about problems in the recruitment, selection and retention of the disadvantaged has evolved through several stages during the past decade. This article examines progress in this important process of social learning. It assesses experiences in diverse organizational settings in an effort to form some tentative conclusions and recommendations for further advancement. The 1960s can be characterized as a period of active experimentation in manpower programs aimed at improving the operation of labor markets and income redistribution. It includes twenty eight pieces of categorical manpower legislation. The earliest of these programs, under the Manpower Development and Training Act, focused primarily on problems of structural unemployment. Accordingly, training was viewed as the primary vehicle for overcoming serious inequities in the distribution of unemployment. Nearly seven million people have participated in the department of labor work and training programs and this training has clearly helped many poor people attain self sufficiency.