A study examined the labor market problems of the United States' out-of-school youth population and trends in the development and attempted solution of those problems over the past 20 years. The study's major areas of focus were as follows: trends in the nation's out-of-school youth population's size and demographic composition; trends in the labor market experiences of out-of-school youth as a group over time and as they grow older; and the outcomes of youth employment and training programs, especially those targeted toward economically disadvantaged youths. The study confirmed that, despite the economic recovery from the 1990-91 recession, the real weekly earnings of most full-time employed young adults, especially young men, have continued to decline over the past 2 decades and that no fundamental reversal of the trend appears imminent. Few recent national evaluations of federal employment and training programs have shown sizable, statistically significant positive earnings impacts of those programs on out-of-school youth. The economic impacts that have been found have only been in the $600-$700 range, which would replace less than 10% of the real earnings losses experienced by young men since the 1970s. (Thirty tables/graphs and 36 endnotes are included.) (MN)