We can Study the Future for Jobs

It’s really strange to listen to the non discussion about the future of jobs. We seem to be thinking that the jobs we have now are the only jobs there will be. It reminds me of the head of the copyright office who said in the early twentieth century that we might as well close up the department because everything that can be invented had been invented. It is as if we forget that the industrial revolution was indeed a revolution and we are acting as if the Information Technology revolution isn’t happening. Where is the foresight and the researchers.

Lessons We Can Learn

Making a reference to politics is jarring presently but I have to note that pathetic politicians are telling the people of Appalachia that they will bring back coal jobs and its as if they believe what they are told. I don’t even need to go into why they are not coming back. What is preferable is to look at Appalachia. Have you ever been there? It’s beautiful. Granted the towns need work and investment but those valleys are exquisite and while they aren’t suitable for sprawling industrial complexes or large agricultural operations, they are suitable for many kinds of companies, especially small technologically based companies.

There Is a Paucity of Discussion

Maybe I’m not hearing the discussion or they are done in whispers. A lot of technologically based startup companies can be small or linked because of improved communications systems. I don’t think its up to me to build a copious list but there should be a crowd of researchers at work. Perhaps Appalachia can’t spring to life over night and older residents might not benefit from new types of work but a future could be built for the younger generations. What I know from testing people for vocational opportunities is that you can’t know what there can be as resources until you look. It may take training but above all it has to begin with vision and a willingness to employ it.

Looking Around the World

Germany is legendary in the way it created apprenticeship programs. For some reason they thought that not everyone could or might want an advanced education as in universities. So they set up apprenticeships programs for existing industries. We can do such things for the industries and systems which are coming of age just now. Many tech industries are hungering for new workers and we need to research what the needs are and then go looking for the suitable skill patterns.

Opening Our Minds

I’ve noted this before when I mentioned what I saw as I tested the intelligence of people in preparation for retraining. Intelligence tests as they are constructed are not the be all and end all of ways to assess abilities. The ones we’ve used for a long time such as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale were divided into Verbal and Performance. The Verbal was thought of as being most closely related to educational needs and the Performance section related to skills used by what we call blue collar people. Well, guess what. I saw that the Performance skills also related to information technology. Many people with lower Verbal skills were thought of as learning disabled. In fact they had higher Performance skills which was their area of talent.

It Comes Down To This

Can we do some research please and open our minds? We need to assess the jobs which will be needed and look at our pool of talent. New training or retraining may be needed but if we look I  believe we can open our future.

What do you see ahead?

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