This essay contends that the notion of new jobs created by technological advance is a myth; that in reality the direction is a persistent downgrading of skills and elimination of jobs. The potentially serious effects of these trends on society, and implications for vocational education, are discussed. (JB)

Discusses relationship or effects of high technology on rate of occupational change, availability of jobs, education required for jobs, and growth or decline in middle income class. Contends major challenge to career guidance is to help clients retain basic commitment to work as an important part of their personal values. (ABL)

Three reports on the effects of high technology on the nature of work include (1) Stanton on applications and implications of computer-aided design for engineers, drafters, and architects; (2) Nardone on the outlook and training of numerical-control machine tool operators; and (3) Austin and Drake on the future of clerical occupations in automated…

Today, many high-tech, professional jobs are being sent overseas. According to TechsUnite.org, more than 150,000 technology jobs have been lost to offshoring since 2000. In this article, the author asserts that American colleges and universities are uniquely poised to help confront this economic challenge by providing basic and applied research…

This report looks toward the workplace of the year 2000 and describes how current trends could affect United Way programs and operations. To identify trends for the report, the research committee used two futures research methods: the Delphi process and environmental analysis. Using these techniques, the committee identified eight major trends on…

The World Wide Web is changing not only how individuals locate jobs but also the ways existing jobs are performed. Individuals seeking work will need to know how to use the Web as a tool for enhancing their job performance. The enhanced global communication made possible through Internet technology and the increase of marketing plans combining…

Job loss through technological advancement, particularly technologies based on microelectronics, is increasing for all economic sectors in a nation already hard challenged in world and domestic markets for goods and services. But assessing technology's employment impact remains difficult not only because of its direct and indirect effects and…

This study examines the significant role of computers in the transformation of the Canadian employment structure. An executive summary appears in English and French. Following an introduction, Section 2 discusses how the role of computerization of the employment structure is viewed in the literature. Section 3 presents an overview of past…

Technological innovations are giving rise to structural changes in the economy that are in turn creating profound changes in the nature of work and work organizations. Predicted changes are: traditional hierarchical organizations in the workplace will give way to network or weblike forms of organization; customary vertical divisions of labor will…

A pressing problem in the United States today is that of employment: how to create enough jobs and, especially, what impact high technology will have on present and future jobs as well as educational need. Some policymakers see high technological industries as the basis for revitalizing the economy. The major challenge to education and training,…

A report and a bibliography are provided from a project designed to provide a greater understanding of sophisticated technologies and to provide direction for vocational education curriculum revision in Illinois. The report begins with an introduction. Section 2 provides a conceptual and operational understanding of sophisticated technologies by…

This part of a 2-part working paper identifies and describes major occupational groups that are characteristic of high technology manufacturing and service industries as well as employment sectors that use high technology products in their provision of goods and services. The paper is based on a review of a wide range of employment projections…

A study examined the role of technology in the European Union's (EU's) economy and its impacts on employment. Starting point was Technology and Employment Maps of the FUTURES project that identified main emerging technological developments (TDs) and their implications for employment. Technologies' potential impact on productivity growth and…

This book focuses on 10 of the most promising new technologies and the careers that they will foster, picking up where the 1983 book, "Emerging Careers" by Norman Feingold, left off. The book talks about the work that must be done in new ways as technological breakthroughs open new applications. By looking first at the technologies and their…

A study examined the views of leading Northwest business executives concerning the implications of and need for technological literacy in the 1990s and beyond. The executives made it clear that the United States is moving toward a future in which high-technology industries will alter work functions dramatically. Providing students with a basic…