For 30 years, the following programming strategies have become the backbone of public policy regarding youth employment: work experience, labor market preparation, job placement, on-the-job training, and occupational training. Three sources were used to analyze the effects of these core employment strategies on youth: a 1985 comprehensive study of 28 Youth Employment and Demonstration Projects Act research studies; a 1984 analysis of the Continuous Longitudinal Manpower Survey; and a 1993 evaluation of the Job Training Partnership Act. The analysis established that federal programs designed to address the problems of youth employment have failed in their current form. Specifically, the analysis demonstrated the following: (1) the failure of the "magic bullet" theory, which states that some single correct intervention would be sufficient to alter the life trajectory of a disadvantaged youth enough to enable that youth to enter the workplace successfully; (2) the absence of developmental thinking in programs (specifically, failure to recognize the differences between the needs of unemployed adults and those of youth having difficulties making the transition into the labor force); and (3) a lack of long-term research and failure to design studies in a way that would permit their findings to be generalized or compared. (Contains 21 references.) (MN)