The antipoverty initiatives of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations were essentially continued and given increased funding during the Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations. The Reagan and Bush administrations marked the regression of many employment, training, and welfare programs. Employment and training issues were given high priority during Clinton's 1992 campaign but received less priority during the first year of the Clinton administration. Since the Kennedy administration, federal intervention in the area of preparation for work has improved services to neglected groups. Federal funding of secondary and vocational education has never been high, however. It peaked at 9% in 1980 and declined to 5.6% in 1992. The federal government has assumed responsibility for providing second-chance job training for disadvantaged/displaced persons and ensuring equal access to work. Although employment policies focusing on bringing jobs to depressed areas have yielded disappointing results, direct public service job creation has proved successful. Programs of promise identified in this paper are: Head Start, elementary and secondary education, school-to-work transition, second-chance programs, access to jobs, income maintenance, welfare reform, and targeted job creation. (Appended is a list of 34 assessments of federal human resource programs.) (MN)