"Entering the last decade of the 20th century, the United States finds its labor market undergoing a significant transformation. A marked break has occurred in the evolutionary patterns of employment and the requirements paced on the labor force to prepare for employment. So rapid and, in some cases, so radical are the changes that a mismatch between the effective demand and the available supply of labor is now a widely observed reality. It is a reality whose ominous implications, if not addressed, will have severe consequences."