Published in 1997, this book is an examination of the Irish experience with active labour market policy. This text looks at training in comparison with employment programmes and examines this in the context of strong and weak market orientation. The study is based on a survey which is used to analyze the effect of programme participation on short and long-term employment prospects and on income. The results show that market-orientation is a significant factor in employment scheme success, a factor that has not been taken into account in recent policy changes. The book also points out the applications of this sort of study in other European countries.