As IT advances in its sophistication, functionality, affordability and widespead utilization, it is eliminating more jobs (principally certain clerical, administrative and lower-level skilled and unskilled jobs) than it is creating (primarily higher level, better-paying technical and and project management jobs). As a Global Futurist, and being obsessed with trends, the Luddite nightmare of "machines" displacing "Human Beings" is steadily increasing in this particular functional sector.
Please have a look at the article (from the archives of several months ago) extract which appears below, courtesy of BigThink , and then hit the "Back" button on your browser to return for some commentary and implications:
| Big Think Daily Ideafeed January 2012 |
| DANGEROUS IDEAS IT Killing Jobs Faster than Creating Jobs |
| Unemployment and economic output are at near-record highs. So where did all the jobs go? Fast-advancing, IT-driven automation might be playing the biggest role in our current jobs crisis. |
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1) Labor costs in businesses, particularly in the the western industrialized nations will begin to decline, increasing profit margins and possible international market pricing advantages;
2) Unemployment will be further exacerbated by this development before during the next decade;
3) Career opportunities will be opening up (in small numbers) for IT experts and IT-oriented Project Management Professionals;
4) The educational focus will be shifting over to IT-based training during the next four to eight years;
5) As IT becomes more affordable and accessible to smaller-sized businesses, particularly in the western industrialized nations, small businesses will be slightly impaired in their traditional historical role as national economies' jobs creation engine.
Take whatever actions you may deem necessary in anticipation of this change, whether you are an employer, an employee or a student, making an educational and career decision.
Douglas E. Castle For The InfoSphere Business Alerts And Intelligence Blog
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