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This research explores issues surrounding active measures for dealing with unemployment, particularly government training programmes. A comparative analysis of programmes delivered in Humberside, England, and Halifax County, Canada is presented. Specifically, the Training For Work programme in Britain and adult training programmes delivered under the Active Re-employment Benefits framework in Canada are examined. The research is based on semi-structured interviews with a total of seventy-eight respondents, including sixty-six training providers, from Humberside and Halifax County. In Chapter 1, the methodology and samples are outlined. In Chapter 2, broader employment and unemployment patterns in Britain and Canada are examined and the comparative contexts at the local level of the study are set out. Employment growth projections are examined to determine vocational fields in which training would be conducive to facilitating the re-employment of unemployed adults. In Chapter 3, training providers' observations of their local economies and unemployment are reviewed and analysed as they pertain to the underclass debate. It is shown that perceptions of unemployment are often contradictory in nature, and that even people charged with assisting unemployed adults may hold negative stereotypes toward their client group. In Chapter 4, the unemployment insurance and training systems in Britain and Canada are reviewed. Training providers' linkages with their training regulating bodies are analysed in the context of the respective policy structures. In Chapter 5, barriers to training access, at the individual, policy and training-site levels, are analysed. In Chapter 6, the nature of training provision, including its structure and content, is examined and analysed as it pertains to' policy constraints in the two locales. In Chapter 7, the holistic, social and psychological benefits of training are analysed. In Chapter 8, more concrete outcomes of training, re-employment and qualifications achieved, are examined. Also, training providers' views of the effectiveness of government training in general, their suggestions for improving their systems, and their speculations on the future of government training programmes, are discussed. In the concluding chapter, I discuss the effectiveness of government training more generally, review suggestions of how the British and Canadian systems might be improved while looking at developments that have occurred since the time of the data collection, and I consider the future of government training programmes in the two countries.

This is a qualitative study located in Ethnomethodology, utilizing grounded theory and participation observation. The single case study, where the researcher worked as a mechanic was located in the northern Indian town of Darjeeling. The emphasis of the project was to determine criteria that may be useful for developing skill-upgrading programs for informally trained auto mechanics in India. Informal training, (not associated with any formal, school-based training or any form of official accrediation), is the most common form of skill training practiced in India. It is estimated that over 90% of all auto mechanics in India are trained in this manner and a fairly pressing need exists for upgrading programs that allows them to adapt to the fast-changing technical systems of automobiles currently being introduced in India. The thesis traces the need for increased emphasis on vocational education by outlining the major economic changes that have recently altered the employment picture in India. It distinguishes between the formal and informal economic sectors and points out that over 90% of all Indians are employed in the informal sector, so this becomes the sector where skill upgrading will have the greatest impact. It is outlined that formal vocational training, (in Vocational Colleges, Polytechnics and the like), has been set up with formal sector employment in mind and as a result is a poor venue for developing skills for the informal sector. The data derived from the study primarily deals with criteria that must be privileged when developing skill-upgrading programs for informally trained auto mechanics. Issues such as paternalism in the workplace, caste, class, corruption and formal education attainment are investigated. The study focuses on informal learning in the workplace itself to understand how these mechanics actually learn new skills, but supporting issues such as workplace safety, difficulties in adapting to new technologies and tools and the problems of non-accreditation, are also investigated. Various recommendations for setting up skill-upgrading courses for informally trained mechanics are given. The idea of developing trade associations, mobile training courses in conjunction with the formal vocational training sector and the development of self-learning resource material in vernacular language are introduced as possible ideas for the advancement of these courses, but it is stressed that skill-upgrading programs must be developed with the participants themselves making the important decisions.