Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore job design mechanisms that enhance team proactivity within a lean production system where autonomy is uttermost restricted. We propose and test a model where the team learning process of building shared meaning of work mediates the relationship between team participative decision-making, inter team…

In order to jumpstart the economy, "Made in the U.S.A." needs to be synonymous with in-demand, high-quality products sold throughout the world. Recognizing the importance of the manufacturing industry and its connection to a healthy economy, President Obama addressed Carnegie Mellon University and launched the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership…

This report is the successor to "Help Wanted: Projections of Jobs and Education Demand through 2018," in which researchers examined the connections between educational attainment and educational demand in the labor market. In this report, the authors update the jobs projected to be available through 2020, using a macro-micro modeling…

An analysis of unemployment in four regions of the United States during 1983 showed that unemployment declined most in states that had the largest decreases previously and least in states dependent on the oil market. Most job expansion occurred in the South and West in the services and trade industries. (SK)

Robots--powerful, versatile, and easily adapted to new operations--may usher in a new industrial age. Workers throughout the labor force could be affected, as well as the nature of the workplace, skill requirements of jobs, and concomitant shifts in vocational education. (SK)

The recession that began in December of 2007 is already 30 months old, but the U.S. economy will not recover its pre-recession employment levels for at least another two years. From there, it will take an additional three years to make up for lost growth and create a job market strong enough to employ both the casualties of the recession and the…

Purpose--What is required of job design and production planning, if they are to result in a work group taking a self-starting approach and going beyond what is formally required of it? This paper aims to contribute to group research by testing a theoretical model of relations between job design on the one hand (captured as completeness, demand on…

High-technology employment, 14% of total employment, is projected to grow much faster than in the past due to employment gains in high-tech services and among suppliers to computer and electronic components manufacturers. (Author/JOW)

Describes knowledge mapping, a tool developed to increase the objectivity and accuracy of task difficulty ratings for job design. Application in a semiconductor manufacturing environment is discussed, including identifying prerequisite knowledge for a given task; establishing training development priorities; defining knowledge levels; identifying…

Ten production sites in the United Kingdom, North America, Japan, and Malta tested a model of worker discretion in job tasks, based on customer preferences. Results suggest that production jobs should be designed to maximize worker judgment, knowledge, and initiative, allowing broad discretion in all tasks except those that can have a negative…

An analysis of 51 manufacturing and nonmanufacturing industries indicates a substantial variation among different types of businesses with respect to the type of workers hired. The analysis is extended to form a typology of industries that is useful to local development groups in formulating a strategy to employ groups of special concern.…

Includes "Role of Computers in Reshaping the Work Force" (McConnell); "Semiconductors" (Moris); "Computer Manufacturing" (Warnke); "Commercial Banking Transformed by Computer Technology" (Morisi); "Software, Engineering Industries: Threatened by Technological Change?" (Goodman); "Job Creation…

A project to examine the implications of technological change at Northern Telecom consisted of two major components: a technological survey and case study research. A questionnaire that contained more than 90 questions on technological change was distributed through local union technology committee meetings in Brampton, London, Belleville, and…

In 1998, foreign economic crises lowered the demand for U.S. goods and reduced U.S. manufacturing jobs. Hiring increased in construction, finance, and government. Unemployment was low throughout the year. (Author)

Describes Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation (KHIC), a nonprofit community development organization that creates jobs and helps small manufacturing businesses succeed in nine "perpetually poor" rural Kentucky counties. Outlines KHIC services: loans for both expansion and working capital; equity and real estate investments;…