ABSTRACT
B ecause a nation’s productivity and ability to innovate depends in large part on worker skills, training policy is a key area of national competitiveness. Currently, national policy focuses on two broad areas: public-sector training to help people find jobs or to provide skills to disadvantaged youth and adults, and private-sector training that concentrates on increasing the skills of people currently working or on increasing training standards across occupations. While both of these types of training are important to the skill base of the nation, training of current, incumbent workers is most critical in increasing productivity and raising the productive capacity of the U.S. economy. Such training means more rapid wage growth and promotion opportunities, and it provides the nation with a productive workforce that is better able to adapt to new technologies and new forms of work organization.
