The World of Work in the 21st Century
Notes From A Conference On Employment Skills

The following information is important for those who are just entering the job market as well as for those who are examining their long-range career goals.

The Current Situation

• There were more layoffs in the 1980s than there were in the 1990s.
• University graduates have the best employment rate followed by college graduates.
• The marketplace needs generalists (for example with a business background) who can specialize. Specialists need a common ground in which to communicate.
• Canada depends on exports.
• Education will become more important in the next 50 years although the delivery of it may change.

The Importance of the Infotech Revolution

• The shift is from the manufacturing to the service industry.
• The amount of information is doubling every 16-18 years.
• New information = new career opportunities.
• There will be many new jobs with strange names or no names.
• The management of the information will depend on: the use of software, the Internet, e-mail, programmers, technicians, etc.
• There will be great advances in the first decade of the 21st century in the field of bio-medical research.
• The high-tech careers will be in the fields of biotechnology, nanotechnology, the Internet, and exports.

The Impact of the Baby Boomers

• They are the richest generation in history with lots of discretionary income to fuel the economy, for example in the food and beverage industries, tourism, financial services, and nutrition.
• Health care and nutrition are important fields because of the baby boomers.

The Effects of Continuing Fiscal Restraint

• Large corporations with large bureaucracies are still downsizing.
• Middle management will be gone. Front-line workers will need to be skilled and self-managed and be able to work cooperatively.
• The traditional hierarchy will be replaced by networking where workers work independently but come together to work as a team. Employees will need the skills to function well in both modes.
• Most new jobs will be in small business and entrepreneurship. These, once again, will require generalists with varied skills. (technical literacy, accounting skills, computer literacy, communication and presentation skills)
• In the future, the entire global economic setup will be revolutionized and unrecognizable in today=s terms.

The Labour Requirements, Skills, and Personal Traits

• The top four criteria for workers will be: self-discipline and the "internalization" of a work ethic; reliability; the willingness to stay at a job; adaptability.
• The new skill emphasis will be on the effective and successful integration of: data, people, things, and ideas. Whereas data and things can be automated, the right-brain (creative and communicative) skills will become more important. This involves critical reasoning and conceptualization
• Jobs will not be linear. Successful workers will build career portfolios or engage in projects that will teach them more and varied skills
• Jobs will be found through "agents" or expanded employment agencies.

Concepts That Must Be Internalized

• Workers must achieve a balance of skills in an era when excessive specialization is occurring. For example, a computer specialist must also have communication and "people" skills. If these are lacking, they must be developed. Successful workers must be able to express themselves effectively.
• The only constant factor in the workforce is change. Workers must be flexible
• There should be a clear distinction between education and training and an understanding of the role of each in preparing workers for the employment market.

Recommended Reading

Where the Jobs Are: Career Survival For Canadians in the New Global Economy, by Colin Campbell (MacFarlane Walter& Ross, 1994)