I have been a manufacturing engineer most of my life. When I was 40 there was a massive technology change as IC's replaced transistors, microprocessors started appearing in nearly everything and in my case computer memory became cheap and plentiful. The product I was involved with became obsolete overnight. Time to move on, and I did. I was able to go to technology seminars and workshops and add to my skill set. I was then able to take advantage of the job "insourcing" wave from Japan. Japanese corporations like NEC, Epson and Fujitsu started moving their manufacturing to the United States to take advantage of a cheaper and more efficient labor force and to be closer to their customers. Those jobs are gone along with manufacturing jobs at U.S. owned companies. For all of the talk of "Jobs of the Future" there are no replacements on the horizon.
Jill at Brilliant at Breakfast brings us this jolt of reality from the Washington Post, IT Unemployment Now Exceeds Overall Jobless Rate. Just a few short years ago IT jobs were the "Jobs of the Future". So Bush tells those of us with Bachelor and Masters degrees to go back to community college. And what are we supposed to study? Nobody has a clue as to what the mythical new "Jobs of the Future' are. I guess I could go learn Spanish so I could get a job managing the local McDonalds.
Many jobs may return as oil nears $100 a barrel, see Oil, Half Way To Empty. It will soon be uneconomical to make toasters in China, ship them 12 thousand miles and then sell them at Walmart for $9.95. It will probably also mean no more of those wonderful Fuji apples from New Zealand.
While Bush's non solutions may have sounded ridiculous, Kerry had no real solutions either.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Be Nice