Programs that provide training that is designed to enable employees to perform a job that their previous training has not equipped them for or to adapt to changes in the workplace. Retraining may be needed when new methods or equipment are introduced or when jobs for which employees have trained are phased out. It may also be provided by employers or governments for employees who have been laid off and are no longer able to find employment using the skills they already possess. The need for retraining may arise because of a decline in a particular industry sector or because of rapid technological change.

Programs that offer apprenticeships, training through business practice firms, classroom training, internships, on-the-job training, work experience or other formats for training that prepares people for specific types of employment. The training may feature formal instruction in an institutional classroom setting, hands-on experience at a job site under varying arrangements or a combination of the two as the means by which trainees acquire the skills required to perform the job.

Programs that provide vocational assessment, job development, job training, job search, job placement, specialized job situations and/or other supportive services for individuals who are unable to continue in a particular job, industry or profession because the needs of society have changed and the person's skills are no longer required. Included are services for people who have been permanently laid off because of plant closings, outsourcing of jobs to other countries, reductions in the work force, declines in business activities and other factors in situations where reemployment within their industry is unlikely.

Individuals who are generally between the ages of 18 and 25 depending on the ages that specific programs use for qualification.

Individuals who are unable to continue in a particular job, industry or profession because the needs of society have changed and the person's skills are no longer required.