the managers on what they could learn and helped propagate the learnings<sup>well beyond the</sup> managers selected for the trips.

# _"Marshall Plan" Study Tours for Skilled Blue-Collar Workers_

One of the quite unexpected innovations of the ARIA program was the<sup>extensionof thestudy</sup> tours to "work tours" for skilled workers. In the relative-West, as well as in the West, there<sup>is</sup> demand for the _gast-arbeiter_ workers with skills to perform jobs (e.g., at night or over<sup>weekends)</sup> that domestic workers might not want. Yet the usual _gast-arbeiter_ arrangements<sup>createsocial</sup> problems for the host countries.

From the viewpoint of the Moldovan firms and workers, there would be<sup>great advantagesfrom</sup> temporary _gast-arbeiter_ arrangements to learn new skills and learn about<sup>newtechnologies-not</sup> to mention the different pay scales. Returning _gast-arbeiters_ have been<sup>a traditionalsourceof</sup> skills and investment in eastern countries, such as Yugoslavia and Turkey,<sup>that were opento</sup> two-way travel.

Could the development potential of _gast-arbeiter_ arrangements be systematically<sup>promoted</sup> without the accompanying social problems in the host countries? ARIA<sup>together withSlovene</sup> counterparts worked out a solution-an unexpected consequence of the Slovene<sup>consulting</sup> relationship. Groups of skilled blue-collar workers would be selected in<sup>Moldovaaccordingto</sup> certain criteria. They would be financed by their companies to be placed<sup>for six months working</sup> in Slovene companies and living together in apartments. The workers would be paid at minimum Slovene rates which were over five times their usual wages. At the end of<sup>thesix</sup> months, they would have acquired not only industrial and technical<sup>skills butalsoa nest-egg of</sup> savings. Some workers would buy a cheap used car in Slovenia and then drive back to Moldova. Others would use their savings for investments back in Moldova.

Another consequence of the program is some subcontracting and investment of<sup>Slovene</sup> companies back into Moldova. Some workers have come repeatedly.<sup>Eventually the Slovene</sup> hosts realized that they could subcontract some of the low-end items to be produced back in Moldova by the workers they had trained-perhaps with some special machinery<sup>suppliedfrom</sup> Slovenia. Thus the "trade" in the form of temporary fixed-term migration leads to trade<sup>in goods</sup> and eventually to capital investment. Worker placements were so successful<sup>for both parties that</sup> a company was formed in Slovenia to run the program entirely on a private<sup>basis.</sup> Nearby Northern Italy has considerable demand for _gast-arbeiters,_<sup>and there have beenthe</sup> accompanying social problems. The Italian government has financed a study of<sup>theSlovenia-</sup> Moldova experience to see if it could be adapted to Northern Italy. It would seem that<sup>thisARIA</sup> innovation could be applied broadly in other relative-Western and Western<sup>countries.Indeed,</sup> ARIA-initiated worker programs in Germany and France, modeled on the pilot<sup>program</sup> developed in Slovenia, are in operation.

# _Continuous_ **_Improvement Programs_**

Interviews with some the repeat workers in the _gast-arbeiter_ program gave some surprising answers to a question about their most valuable experience. One<sup>mightthink that their most</sup> valuable learnings would be the new technologies, but the workers often<sup>said that the</sup> _15_