Reviewing the trends in employment statistics and higher educational planning in postwar Western Germany, the authors emphasize the role of political policy as they trace the development of the mixed use of both market-orientation and the more traditional research-orientation in preparing higher education students for the job market. After a discussion of the study's presuppositions, structural and quantitative information is presented on the educational system, the labor market, and the economic trends of the recent past. An explanation of the German view of public responsibility for educational planning relates the expansion of the higher education system (universities and short-cycle institutions) to the needs of the labor market and to the ongoing political debate about educational policy. The policy debate, it is noted, revolved around employment issues and has resulted in recent compromises in educational planning in such areas as admissions, job recruitment, and curricular reform. After this overview of the development of higher education and employment, the study concentrates on job requirement forecasts, current placement processes, and the responsiveness of institutions to changes in manpower requirements. The postwar developments are summarized, and the present climate of higher educational planning is described in drawing implications for the future. Finally, West Germany's example is related to that of developing countries, which also often face the conflicts of the social demands for education and the manpower demands of the economy. (JW)