Opportunity Knocks: Training the Commonwealth's Workers for the New Economy.

The current situation regarding training Massachusetts' workers for the new economy was reviewed. Special attention was paid to the following topics: Massachusetts and the skill-centered economy; opportunities for workforce system reform; skills demanded in the new economy; ways other states are building workers' skills; and the fragile setting for system building. Among the review's main findings were the following: (1) the income gap between high-end professional/technical workers and less-skilled workers is increasing; (2) businesses' competitive advantages are eroding because critical positions are going unfilled; (3) the current boom cannot be sustained without adequate supplies of skilled labor; and (4) Massachusetts's weak suit (compared with that of other states) is providing skill-building opportunities for lower-middle-class and working-class adults. The following seven recommendations for improving the state's work force development system were formulated: (1) focus on measurable performance outcomes, and hold elements of the system accountable for results; (2) encourage business and labor support, and invite business and labor pressure; (3) build the nation's best work force information system; (4) build a work force development system that provides training opportunities to a broad spectrum of workers, not just the unemployed; (5) take consolidation and customer choice seriously but gradually; (6) fund the workforce development system at a level that reflects its growing importance to the state's shared prosperity; and (7) Provide the bipartisan leadership vital to the effort's success. (Includes 13 tables and figures.) (MN)