According to the Advisory Board of the National Center on the Educational Quality of the Workforce (EQW), young people in the United States are losing out in the job market, too often having to settle for intermittent, part-time jobs, routinized work, low wages, and few if any benefits. This circumstance has been the result of a net loss of 1.65 million manufacturing jobs over the last 10 years, an impending loss of an additional one million jobs in the military, and a general and persistent decline in the wages paid to young people. Therefore, a federal initiative should be developed that requires neither new funds nor another government agency, relies on the natural functioning of the labor market to create better opportunities for young workers, and lowers the costs to employers of screening and hiring young workers. The center proposes that postsecondary education vouchers for young workers be created. The vouchers would be earned by sustained employment and paid for by the reallocation of federal funds already budgeted for student aid and vocational education. The awards to students would be larger than the present Pell grants, since students would have to work for them. Such a program would be designed to address the needs of both youths and employers; it would benefit young people, the work force, and postsecondary programs for education and training, and it would help to ensure the future of the country. (KC)