Labor crisis will put US economy to the test
Teaching to the test will not enable America to withstand the test imposed by the economic crisis that will descend upon this nation within the next five years, says Edwin Gordon, a corporate executive and prolific author on economic issues.
The impending crisis that Gordon explores will have two seemingly incompatible dynamics -- wholesale unemployment coupled with businesses' inability to find the qualified workers they need to compete effectively in the global economy.
That is going to happen, in Gordon's view, largely because Americans are not being educated and trained in sufficient numbers to perform the work that technological change is generating.
''Today, America's work force is divided into three parts: about 25 percent are the 'smart people' who are educated and also have special career skills; another 25 percent are the 'walking dead,' victims of mergers or technological change and need to acquire new skills in order to change jobs or even careers . . . and up to 50 percent are the 'techno-peasants,' poorly educated adults with few if any special career skills," Gordon writes.
Gordon focuses on education as an indispensable element of any effort to address the problem of workers unable to find jobs and companies unable to find workers.
''The solution to this tech labor market meltdown must begin in the K-12 grades. All states must mandate for every student the math and science foundation skills that are essential to every academic discipline and the future of a New America," he writes.
The author, however, does not embrace some of the solutions that have been prescribed. One of those with which he takes particular issue is the overemphasis on testing. This is occurring, Gordon said, because the No Child Left Behind Act ties levels of federal funding to schools' performances on standardized tests.
Gordon pinpoints 2010 as the crossroads year of the impending crisis because that is when members of the baby boom generation begin retiring in droves. He points out that the boomers exceed by about 10 million the next generation of workers, more than half of whom lack the education and skills needed to step into the positions being vacated.
This, Gordon suggests, will exacerbate in the short term the offshoring and outsourcing that are putting millions of Americans out of work, as US companies seek to meet their staffing needs with foreign workers.
But Gordon sees drawbacks to that trend for American business and industry. And he finds hope in the possibility that business and industry will come to realize that they are in many cases relinquishing too much control over their intellectual property and transferring too much of their technical know-how to potential competitors.
He sees many companies already taking more interest in providing training and education for American workers, changing their attitudes about older workers, and making special provisions for working mothers.
Although the title of this book suggests gloom and doom, that is not entirely the case. Gordon underscores much that is wrong with America, but he offers reasons to believe in the prospect of a brighter tomorrow beyond the meltdown.
