Job Corps was established as a national employment and training program in 1964 to address employment barriers faced by severely disadvantaged youths. Job Corps enrolls youths aged 16 to 24 who are economically disadvantaged, in need of additional education or training, and living under disorienting conditions such as a disruptive homelife. In program year 1996, nearly 80 percent of the participants were high school dropouts and almost two-thirds had never been employed full-time. Participating in Job Corps can lead to placement in a job or enrollment in further training or education. It can also lead to educational achievements such as attaining a high school diploma and improving reading or mathematics skills. Job Corps currently operates 113 centers throughout the United States, including Alaska, Hawaii, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Major corporations and nonprofit organizations manage and operate 85 Job Corps centers under contractual agreements with Labor. Contract center operators are selected through a competitive procurement process that takes into account proposed costs, an operator’s expertise, and prior program performance. In addition, the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of Agriculture operate 28 Job Corps centers, called civilian conservation centers, on public lands under interagency agreements with Labor. Each center provides participants with a wide range of services, including basic education, vocational skills training, social skills instruction, counseling, health care, room and board, and recreational activities. One feature that makes Job Corps unique is that, for the most part, it is a residential program. About 90 percent of the youths enrolled each year live at Job Corps centers and are provided services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The premise for boarding participants is that most come from a disruptive environment and, therefore, can benefit from receiving education and training in a different setting where a variety of support services is available around the clock. The comprehensive services Job Corps provides make it a relatively expensive program. According to Labor’s program year 1996 figures, the average cost per Job Corps participant was more than $15,000. Cost varies according to how long Job Corps participants remain in the program. Participants stay in the program for an average of about 7 months but may stay as long as 2 years. Labor estimates the cost for a participant who remains in the program for a year to be about $25,000. Vocational training is a critical element of the Job Corps program. This training is designed to offer individualized, self-paced, and open entry-open exit instruction to allow participants to progress at their own pace. Vocational training can be provided in any combination of three ways. Most vocational training is offered by instructors who are Job Corps center staff. Other vocational courses are taught by private providers under contract to the center. These private providers typically include vocational schools and community colleges. About a third of the vocational training expenditure is provided by national labor unions and business organizations under sole source contracts with Labor. In program year 1996, Job Corps’ operating costs totaled about $986 million, of which $144 million, or about 15 percent, was for vocational training (see table 1). Overall, Job Corps offers training in 100 different vocations. Although the number of vocations offered at any one Job Corps center varies, most centers offer training in 7 to 10 different vocations. Some centers, however, offer training in as few as 5 vocations while others offer training in as many as 31 different vocations. Some vocations are available at most centers, while others are available at only a single center. For example, more than 80 percent of the centers offer training in business clerical, culinary arts, building and apartment maintenance, and carpentry. Thirty-one vocations, including computer programmer, asphalt paving, barber, teacher aide, and cable TV installer, are offered only at a single center. Many centers also offer off-site advanced career training at such institutions as vocational schools, community colleges, and universities for participants who have been in the program for at least 6 months. Regardless of who provides the training, Job Corps policy requires that all vocational training programs use competency-based curricula that contain a series of skills, or competencies, that participants must attain. According to Labor officials, each vocational training program’s curriculum and set of required skills are regularly reviewed and updated by industry advisory groups consisting of business, industry, and training providers. Labor uses a series of nine measures to report on the performance of the program nationally and to assess the performance of individual Job Corps centers. The measures relate to placement—in a job, in education, or in military service—learning gains in mathematics and reading, earning a general equivalency diploma certificate, completing vocational training, placement in a job related to the training received, and placement wage. In program year 1996, Job Corps reported that 80 percent of the participants leaving the program were placed—70 percent in jobs or the military and 10 percent enrolled in education—and 62 percent of those who were placed in jobs or the military obtained a job related to their training. Job Corps also reported that 48 percent of those who left the program completed vocational training. Labor has several activities to improve Job Corps’ employer and community linkages to ensure that vocational training is appropriate for local labor markets and relevant to employers’ needs. These efforts include initiatives enacted by Job Corps’ national office and regional offices, as well as efforts by individual Job Corps centers. Since 1984, Labor has used industry advisory groups to review vocational course curricula to ensure that course content is relevant to the job market. Each year, Labor selects a number of vocational offerings for review by an Industry Advisory Group consisting of Job Corps instructors and academic program representatives as well as industry representatives from each vocational offering being reviewed. For example, recent industry representatives included computer operators and repair technicians, electronic assemblers, diesel and heavy equipment mechanics, health occupation workers, material handlers, tile setters, and clerical workers. The Industry Advisory Group recommends to Labor changes to Job Corps’ vocational training curricula, materials, and equipment. Vocational offerings are evaluated and updated on a 3-to-5-year cycle dictated by industry changes and the number of students participating in each vocational training program. In program year 1995, Labor introduced a school-to-work initiative at three Job Corps centers combining center-based training with actual worksite experience related to it. Labor expanded this initiative to an additional 30 centers in program year 1996 and to 30 more centers in program year 1997. Labor provided financial incentives and supportive services to encourage centers to participate in the school-to-work initiative. According to Labor officials, the school-to-work initiatives have resulted in extensive partnerships being established between the centers, area businesses, and local school systems. Through these partnerships, employers are providing worksite learning experiences, suggesting approaches for integrating curricula, developing assessment criteria for documenting skill mastery, and participating in career exposure activities. At one school-to-work Job Corps center that we visited, 35 participants from program year 1996 were involved in this initiative and all were placed—32 had jobs, 2 returned to school, and 1 joined the military. Furthermore, 70 percent of the jobs were directly related to the vocational training received in Job Corps. Labor also involves local business and community leaders in deciding which vocational training programs are to be offered at newly established Job Corps centers. For example, at the new center we visited, we found that 2 years prior to the awarding of the center’s contract, decisions on the vocations to be offered were made with input from local business and community leaders, including representatives of the mayor’s office, the private industry council, the school department, and local businesses. The result was that this center does not offer many of the traditional Job Corps vocational programs, such as clerical, culinary arts, landscaping, and building and apartment maintenance. Instead, it has nine vocational areas in such high-demand occupations as medical assistant, phlebotomy and EKG technician, and computer repair. At another new center, Labor officials stated that local labor market information along with input from local community and business leaders, including the local private industry council, union representatives, local school system, health groups, and chamber of commerce, ensured that the vocational training courses offered at that center would be appropriate and current given the local economy. Labor officials also informed us that changes to vocational training offerings at existing centers result from changes in labor market demand or poor performance of a particular vocational training program. Centers obtain approval for a change by completing the appropriate paperwork for a request for change and submitting it to either the regional office (if the change involves a center-operated or center-contracted vocational offering) or the national office (if the change involves a vocational course offered by a national labor union or business organization). Labor then assesses the request to change course offerings and reviews the placement analyses, wages reported, female participation rate in the course, local labor market information, and facility requirements. In addition, Labor requires the center to obtain statements from three employers stating that the vocational change is appropriate and relevant. All five of the centers we visited had recently made changes to their vocational course offerings. For example, one center added a physical therapy course after receiving numerous requests from clinics and hospitals within the community. The center was able to add this course by dropping a cosmetology course. Another center identified a local demand for qualified workers in retail sales and tourism. The center added training in these vocations while reducing the size of its clerical training program. In addition to national efforts, three of Labor’s regional offices have developed their own initiatives to improve linkages between Job Corps centers and employers. In one region, business leaders representing a variety of industries met with Labor and center staff to provide observations of the program and the participants they hire. The group—a business roundtable—set up a framework for obtaining employer input into the operation of the Job Corps program for the benefit of young people, employers, community leaders, and the Job Corps system nationwide.