The Imperatives of Training Older Workers: A Massachusetts Report and Recommendations*

On a state level, the Massachusetts Blue Ribbon Commission Report of April 2000 is reminiscent of reports and recommendations on a national scale of the late 1960s and 1970s that appear to have gone out of fashion. Most notable was the position paper addressed to the new administration taking office in January 1969 by the National Manpower Policy Task Force, which is comprised of eighteen academic experts, including Eli Ginzberg, of course. ¹ The annual Manpower Report of the President, prepared by the Labor Department, to which Eli Ginzberg contributed extensively, served as an overall policy forum while it lasted. Occasional chapters in the Economic Report of the President, ² while useful, are not currently adequate to highlight on a continuing basis the national issues confronting public programs and private policies related to the rapidly changing labor force and employment patterns. Moreover, individual states and regions reflect somewhat distinctive patterns, hence a case for presenting the recent Massachusetts report.