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CHOICE Subject: Social and Behavioral Sci-Business Management and Labor
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Gatta, Mary L. Not just getting by: the new era of flexible workforce development, by Mary L. Gatta with Kevin P. McCabe. Lexington Books, 2005. 132p bibl index afp ISBN 0-7391-1153-1, $70.00. Reviewed in 2006may CHOICE.

Gatta (Rutgers Univ.) studied a New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development pilot program that provided online training for 128 low-wage, single, working mothers. The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) contributed to the development of the program by encouraging One-Stop Career Centers that coordinate government agencies, employers, and citizens in one location. Gatta indicates that it is difficult for poor working single mothers to obtain skill-oriented education due to gender discrimination and time and cost constraints. Based on her research and interviews, she found that participants of the online learning pilot program enjoyed greater job opportunities, time and space flexibility, and increased self-confidence. Difficulties they encountered related to isolation and the technical problems of online learning. Gatta's interview with Kevin McCabe, former commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, reveals how statewide collaboration and openness to new technology increased opportunities for the working poor. A demographic breakdown of program participants and numerous references are included. A related book is Jennifer Johnson's Getting By on the Minimum: The Lives of Working-Class Women (CH, Sep'03, 41-0637).
A useful resource for scholars, policy makers, and students, upper-division undergraduate and up, interested in labor studies, work skills education, labor sociology, and women's studies. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate through professional collections. --- G. E. Kaupins, Boise State University