Symbolic Analysts
Reich uses the term of "symbolic analysts" to describe what he feels one of the three main job classifications of the future will be. The symbolic analysts will be someone who is a problem identifier, a problem solver, or an innovator who can visualize new uses of existing technologies. This class of workers includes scientists, engineers, and other scientific or technical specialties as well as marketers, investors, some types of lawyers, developers and a wide variety of consultants.
The symbolic analysts will have a high level of education, both in the classroom and on the job experience.
Reich believes that this new, actually redefined, class of workers will be the best bet for job growth and success into the next century. Opportunities for job growth will remain rather high. This is a result of two factors, a slowing growth in population and the future retirement of the baby boomer generation (Reich, 203). It is not the number of jobs in the future that is the problem, its the quality of those jobs. On the whole, Reich identifies two trends in job quality. The number of mundane, manufacturing jobs will decrease as well as the number of in-person service jobs e.g. bank tellers, but growth in the number of symbolic analytical positions.
The loss of repetitive manufacturing is primarily a cost saving plan of
American corporations. Corporations seeking to lower their costs of labor move their large, low-skilled manufacturing to points all over the globe in attempt to find the lowest wages. Replacement of some in-person services is attributed to technological change. Examples of this cutting of numbers can be seen in the blossoming of automated teller machines, unmanned self service gas stations, and home shopping capabilities.
The symbolic analyst, however, contains a commodity that is both valuable and irreplaceable. This is the human thinking and problem solving abilities that is becoming ever more important in international business.
Specialized groups of problem identifiers and solvers will sprout all over the globe, selling their services to a wide variety of customers. This growth might not seem beneficial for America in the traditional sense, as analysts will work for foreign companies just as easily as American ones, but the intangible gains of knowledge and experience stay within our country. People cannot be shipped and marketed as easily as a new VCR.
The interesting point of Reichs theory for the future is that it offers no easily visible solutions of raising the standard of living for those who reside in the United States. In fact, I believe his symbolic analyst will only enlarge the growing income inequality between the rich and poor.
Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury, is a dystopian novel about Guy Montag, whose job is to burn books in the futuristic American city. In this world, fireman burns books instead of putting out fires. People in the society do not read books, do not socialize with each others and do not relish their life in the world. People’s life to the society are worthless and hurting people are the most normal and everyday things. Ray Bradbury wrote the novel Fahrenheit 451, to convey the ideas that if human in the future relies on technology and the banishment of books and stop living. Then eventually it will take control their lives and bring devastation upon them. He uses three symbolisms throughout the novel to convey his thoughts.
The start of the technological revolution was 1975. The first personal computer had just been made available to the public and about ten years later, cellular telephones started to become popular (?). A few people using a cell phone turned into a few dozen people who turned into a few hundred and by 2013, nearly seven billion cellular phones were in use around the world (?). Fahrenheit 451, a dystopian novel written by Ray Bradbury in the 1950s, depicted a future America where the world revolved around technology. Bradbury wrote of a society where intelligence was feared and hated, books were banned, and television controlled most everyone and anything. He was concerned that in the decades to come, the world would be changed by technology
Increased demand on a global scale due to increase in manufacturing across the world, opposite in U.
...e new technology, those same workers have a skill deficiency and can no longer work (Allick et al. 2000).
At the national level the outlook for this occupation is currently stable. From 2010 to 2020, the employment change is predicted to increase 8.2 percent. The national average for all jobs in the United States has increases 14.3 percent. In the years 2010 to 2020 it is predicted that there will be a small amount of job openings annually. There are expected to be 24,94o annual job openings for the national level between the years 2010 and 2020.
force. Because of this tremendous growth the industry is now facing a major shortage of
The report of Robert Reich: “Why the Rich are getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer,” is an eye opener and a warning for society regarding unemployment that it will be facing and is currently facing due to a lack of technology and education. It clearly articulates that the jobs of routine producers and in-person servers have vanished totally as modern techniques have replaced them. The author has stated that the only people whose jobs are on the rise are symbol analysts. As stated in the report, symbol analysts are the real problem solvers. Their skills are highly in demand worldwide because they are the ones who first analyze the problem and then solve it. The Hart Report, on the other hand, also states the same problem of unemployment and the global recession which has left employers focusing on employees not only with specialists’ skills but also a “broader range of skills and knowledge” (page 6-7). The Hart Report clearly reflects what the needs of contemporary employers are, but the question is whether it is the universities or the students themselves who fail to cope with the requirements of the contemporary world which is filled with technological advancement and critical thinking. The Texas Work Source has also played an important role in examining what is actually missing in today’s generation and the reasons behind such a great decline in employment. The central
Slow, growth causes few jobs to be created as it means a slower rate of
be the increase in jobs. Creation of new jobs will take place in the manufacturing
Economics of Reich “Why the Rich are getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer” written by Robert Reich, describes as the title says, why the rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer. In Reich’s essay, he delves into numerous reasons and gives examples of each. It makes one wonder if the world will continue on the path of complete economic separation between the rich and the poor. One very important factor Reich examines in his essay is that large corporations are always trying to find the edge, whether that is new technology or cheaper wages. One may ask, how does that affect me?
An interesting facet of the American job market has to do with a direct connection to W.W.II - the "baby boom generation." (those born between 1947-57). A noticeable increase in enrollment in public and elementary schools grew steadily from 1964 and peaked at 46 million in 1971 due to this large group of children entering school. As they graduated or left school, the rate declined steadily for 13 years, but the rate again grew in 1984 when the children of those baby boomers, the "baby boomlets," came of school age. Although it has not reached the peak level of 1971, by 1998 their projected enrollment is expected to surpass this number (National Current Employment Statistics.
... but will continue to transform. Just as HR has changed from 10years ago the same will be true 10 years from now.
This is to say that even if one’s field of expertise is needed today, it may not be tomorrow. This type of ever-changing job market leads many to believe that another socio-economic change may occur at any time. This change was apparent with the transition into the industrial age and again in the information age. These concerns caused stress, various health issues, and economic troubles.... ...
A 2014 Oxford study found that the number of U.S. workers shifting into new industries has been strikingly small: In 2010, only 0.5 percent of the labor force was employed in industries that did not exist in 2000. The discussion about humans, machines and work tends to be a discussion about some undetermined point in the far future. But it is time to face reality. The future is now. (UPI Top
You may have heard the topic raised on some morning show or another, but likely thought little of it. However, the figures are quite shocking. According to one author's research, '52 percent of skilled trades are expected to retire within the next 15 years, with 41 per cent of respondents indicating they will face a skills shortage in their industry within five years.'; (Arnold, par. 12).