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The author presents a critical early appraisal of the British Labour Government's 'New Deal' welfare-to-work programme for 18–24 year-olds. A key element in the Government's strategy for tackling social exclusion, the New Deal represents a major financial and political commitment, yet perhaps more fundamentally it reflects a change in Labour's thinking about the underlying causes of, and appropriate remedies for, unemployment. Drawing on a behaviourist, supply-side, explanation of 'welfare dependency', the aim of the programme is not to create jobs (as it was for 'Old Labour') but to (re)create a work ethic — to raise 'employ ability' amongst young people. This does not take sufficient account of the demand-side, structural, causes of unemployment a fact which is likely to lead to difficulties (both in implementation and in the achievement of positive outcomes) in precisely those parts of the country where the need is greatest: high-unemployment areas in the large cities and lagging regions. The author argues, therefore, that particular attention needs to be paid to the emerging geographies of welfare-to-work because, as the New Deal 'treads down' differentially into local labour markets around the country, its effects will begin to diverge from those anticipated by national policymakers. In labour-market terms, the programme may even begin to dispense different regulatory functions in relatively depressed compared with buoyant local economies, with institutional containment emerging as the dominant function in the depressed areas and economic coercion the dominant function in buoyant local economies.

THIS PAPER DESCIBES THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT'S TRAINING AND ENTERPRISE COUNCILS (TECS) INITIATIVE, DRAWING OUT SOME OF THE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF ITS INTRODUCTION AND SPECULATING UPON ITS FUTURE DEVELOPMENT. THROUGH THE TEC INITIATIVE, CLOSE TO 3 BILLION (POUNDS STERLING) OF PUBLIC FUNDS AND OVER 5000 CIVIL SERVICE JOBS HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED FROM THE PUBLIC TO THE PRIVATE SPHERE, AS THE GOVERNMENT HANDS OVER "OWNERSHIP" OF THE TRAINING AND ENTERPRISE SYSTEM TO EMPLOYERS. TECS, AS PRIVATE COMPANIES CHARGED WITH THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE DELIVERY OF PUBLICLY-FUNDED EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS, ARE CHARACTERIZED AS "POST-CORPORATIST" POLITICAL STRUCTURES--STATE-CAPITAL COALITIONS IN WHICH THE LABOR MOVEMENT HAS BEEN PURPOSEFULLY MARGINALIZED. THIS IS A STRATEGY NOT WITHOUT RISK FOR THE CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT, BECAUSE IN THE EMPLOYER-DOMINATED TECS IT HAS CREATED A POWERFUL AND TO A CERTAIN EXTENT UNPREDICTABLE POLITICAL LOBBY. THE PAPER ARGUES THAT THE POTENTIAL POLITICAL VOLATILITY OF TECS IS ROOTED IN PART TO THEIR SUSCEPTIBILITY TO LOCAL POLITICAL INFLUENCES.

Draws out some of the regional consequences of the operation of the 'employer-led' Youth Training Scheme (YTS). In depressed local labour markets, the predominant function of YTS is identified as the containment of youth unemployment, while in buoyant local labour markets its job substitution function is most prominent. Consequently, regional economic inequalities stand only to be exacerbated by the operation of the scheme. (Abstract amended)

The long-term health care implications of the AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) epidemic are addressed from a futurist perspective, with focus on tax policy, hospital support, federal research policy, & Medicare/Medicaid. It is speculated that the AIDS epidemic could exhaust resources & thereby help trigger national reform, potentially hastening the paradigm shift that is occurring throughout the health care system. Implications of AIDS that go beyond health care are also examined, including issues relating to the right of privacy among AIDS sufferers & how this is threatened by future information systems that could make discrimination based on medical records a nightmare. Though potentially threatening, these information systems also offer the hope of accelerating progress against not only AIDS but other major health threats as well. Policy implications for dealing with the epidemic are discussed, & suggestions for how futurists can best respond to the challenge of AIDS are offered. 1 Table. Adapted from the source document.