Jobs 2015.
Yahoo columnist Ken Dychtwald propounds an intriguing point of view - that the job situation ten years on might be quite different from now.
His thesis is that as Baby Boomers leave the workforce, there’ll be unprecedented shortages of skilled workers; and companies are going to have to adopt innovative strategies to retain employees. Net result - better leverage for those who have talent and skills required.
Side by side, another report - this one called Google’s hidden payroll - on how Google’s Adsense is transforming the lives of web entrepreneurs in the developing world.
Put these together, and another possibility seems to be equally likely. Yes, the workforce is probably going to become smaller; but will there be any slack? Outsourcing and migrant workers; the H-1B visas for the tech industry; these options already exist today. And as is, a great deal of manufacturing has already gone abroad.
So what if the combination of outsourcing, teleworking across time zones and migrant workforce suffice to meet the requirements? Unlike a couple of decades ago, where these options didn’t exist, the next ten years are likely to bring even more flexible options for industry.
Tasks that require a physical presence - services and the like - can’t do away with local workforce.
But for everything else….
Written by 2cworth on April 9th, 2006 with
1 comment.
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#1. April 13th, 2006, at 9:23 PM.
Seems to me like this would rather be a boom for generations X and Y. He dismisses them as “too young and inexperienced” but I beg to differ. Regardless of which, he is assuming that large numbers of boomers will (a) want to stay in the work force and (b) will survive or be healthy enough long enough to continue to make contributions. Considering how the boomers reacted to turning 40, I am certain that retirement will also be very complex. Nevertheless, there are a large number of boomers who’s retirement savings is not likely to let them retire…