University of British Columbia Press Training the Excluded for Work: Access and Equity for Women, Immigrants, First Nations, Youth, and People with Low Income

In recent years job training programs have suffered severe fundingcuts and the focus of training programs has shifted to meet thedirectives of funders rather than the needs of the community. How dothese changes to job training affect disadvantaged workers and theunemployed? In an insightful and comprehensive discussion of job education inCanada, Cohen and her contributors pool findings from a five-yearcollaborative study of training programs. Good training programs, theyargue, are essential in providing people who are chronicallydisadvantaged in the workplace with tools to acquire more secure,better-paying jobs. In the ongoing shift toward a neo-liberal economicmodel, government policies have engendered a growing reliance onprivate and market-based training schemes. These new training policieshave undermined equity. In an attempt to redress social inequities in the workplace, theauthors examine various kinds of training programs and recommendspecific policy initiatives to improve access to these programs. Thisbook will be of interest to policymakers, academics, and studentsinterested in policy, work, equity, gender and education.