An amendment to the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) mandated an assessment of the basic skills of all Summer Youth Employment and Training (SYET) Program enrollees. Many agencies in California used the Employability Competency System Appraisal Test to assess 1987 SYET participants' basic reading and math skills. Between June and October 1987, the test was administered to 10,003 SYET enrollees in California. Slightly less than half of those taking the test were female, with Hispanics accounting for 43.9 percent, Blacks for 22.9 percent, Asians for 15.7 percent, and Whites for 10.8 percent. English was the native language of 59.6 percent of those tested, with 22.6 percent of the youths listing Spanish as their native language. Thirty-one percent had completed high school, and 49.9 percent had completed the 9th or 10th grade. Nearly 11 percent of the SYET enrollees needed both math and reading remediation, 19.4 percent needed only math remediation, 2.9 percent needed only reading remediation. It was determined that an additional 32.4 percent would benefit from some remediation (that is, they functioned at or above a seventh-grade level but below a high school entry level), leaving 34.4 percent who functioned at or above the high school entry level. (Eighteen figures are provided.) Appendixes include a description of the components of the Employability Competency System and lists of counties, agencies, and/or Service Delivery Areas ordering and using the test in 1987. (MN)