Education, Training and the Economy: Preparing Young People for a Changing Labour Market is a critical and reflective synthesis of existing literature on education and training intended to prepare the young for a changing labour market and on accountability in education and training. It stimulates thought on ways of addressing the problems involved in the organisation of education in industrial and developing countries. Its discussion of European training focuses on questions of the UK educational system which differ from those considered in the European debate on education but which have had a broad impact outside Europe.

The examples and cases considered in the book were taken from the educational systems of Iran and Finland with a view to illustrating forms of youth education developed in distinct cultural contexts. Additionally, the book reviews the evidence for the economic impact of education and training in the past thirty years and uses published research to draw a number of lessons. Its general conclusion is that liberal education and technical and vocational education and training, pursuing different but not mutually exclusive objectives, generate human and social capital to serve the needs of the world of work.