Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) was enacted by Congress in 1973 to consolidate a number of existing federal job training programs to help unemployed, underemployed, and disadvantaged individuals. Prior to CETA, federal job training was fragmented and complex, with numerous programs targeting specific groups, such as disadvantaged youths, unemployed older adults, or welfare recipients. Services overlapped, but because administration of each program was distinct, coordination was difficult.
CETA replaced this fragmented situation with federal government block grants providing funds to state and local governments, "prime sponsors," who were responsible for identifying training needs and delivering the training following federal guidelines. Services funded via CETA included on-the-job training, classroom training, and public service employment. Public service employment was a program of federally subsidized jobs and was the most controversial aspect of CETA.
While CETA was enacted to counter the earlier problems with myriad, category-specific programs, a number of later additions to CETA added specific programs and target groups. Frustration with this trend, questions about program effectiveness, and controversy over public service employment led to CETA's replacement with the 1982 passage of the Job Training Partner-ship Act (JTPA). JTPA furthered the decentralization of federal job training to the state and local levels.
Bibliography
Franklin, Grace A., and Randall B. Ripley. CETA: Politics and Policy, 1973–1982. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1984.
Grubb, W. Norton. Learning to Work: The Case for Reintegrating Job Training and Education. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1996.
Orr, Larry L., et al. Does Training for the Disadvantaged Work? Evidence from the National JTPA Study. Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute Press, 1996.
—John Budd
