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Education, Skills and the New Economy
Rob Atkinson
Vice President and Director, Technology and New Economy Project
Progressive Policy Institute
www.ppionline.org
• Founded in 1989 by the Democratic Leadership Council
• Mission is to define and promote a ‘Third Way’
progressive politics for the Information Age
• An alternative to the liberal impulse to defend the bureaucratic status quo and the conservative bid to dismantle government
The Progressive Policy Institute
New Workforce Realities
IN THE NEW KNOWLEDGE-BASED
ENTREPENEURIAL ECONOMY SKILLS ARE
MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER
Work Is Changing From This…
… To This
From This…
… To This.
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
College Graduates Managerial, Professional, & Technical workers
1960 1980 2001
As a Result, Knowledge Jobs Are Growing
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000
% of workers using computers on the job
So Are Jobs Requiring Computer Skills
Higher Skilled Jobs Are Expected to Grow Fastest: 2002 - 2012
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
AA Grad BA ST OJT Experience MT OJT LT OJT
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
Bachelor's Degrees AA Degrees
20002010
And People Are Getting More Education
But Jobs Are Also Shifting From This…
… To This
…and To This.
The Disappearing Middle Job
-200,000
0
200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
job change99-02
1 2 3 4 5
Wage quintile
And It’s Expected to Continue
0
5
10
15
20
25
1,000s of jobs2002-2012
46K andabove
34K to46K
25K to34K
20K to25K
0 to 20K
The New Bifurcated Labor Market
While higher-paid, higher-skilled knowledge While higher-paid, higher-skilled knowledge jobs are growing, so to are lower-paid, jobs are growing, so to are lower-paid, lower-wage service jobs. lower-wage service jobs.
Are we headed to an increasingly bifurcated Are we headed to an increasingly bifurcated labor market with lots of higher-wage jobs, labor market with lots of higher-wage jobs, lots of lower-wage jobs, and relatively fewer lots of lower-wage jobs, and relatively fewer in the middle? in the middle?
How Do We Enhance Opportunity and Growth in an Increasingly Bifurcated
Labor Market? Only One Real Choice:
Help Lower End Jobs Become More Help Lower End Jobs Become More Productive So They Pay More and So That Productive So They Pay More and So That There Are Relatively Fewer of Them and There Are Relatively Fewer of Them and Relatively More Good Jobs.Relatively More Good Jobs.
High-performance work organizations can help boost wages
and productivity. As a result, the Workforce Development System
Should Be An Agent To Foster High-Performance Workplace Innovation
Eight Characteristics of a High Performance Workplace:
1. Labor and management cooperate 2. There is a commitment to quality
improvement 3. The organization is decentralized and
workers are empowered4. Jobs are flexible and work is organized
into comprehensive processes; 5. Worker skill training is continuous; 6. Technology is used to help workers
perform their jobs better; 7. The emphasis is on coaching workers. 8. Pay is based on skills, knowledge and
performance. .
1) Target efforts to firms and groups of firms willing to embrace High-Performance Work Organization practices and the associated skill-upgrading.
These include Regional Skills Alliances (e.g., Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership, Michigan’s new workforce plan;)
Focus on Boosting HPWOs
1) The quasi-public NSC would be governed by a board of directors made up of business and labor leaders, educators, and local elected officials and funded with funds transferred from employment and training programs managed by DOL and adult education programs at DOE and increased Congressional appropriations. (see PPI report, “Creating a National Skills Corporation”).
Create A National Skills Corporation
1) Develop and manage a national learning strategy for American workers .
2) Foster Regional Skills Alliances (e.g. the new UK Sectoral Skills Development Agency and wide network of employer-led Sector Skills Councils).
3) Develop Learn.gov, as an online training, education, and labor market resource.
4) Promote best practice sharing and benchmarking between sectors and regions.
NSC’s Role
HPWO Resources
Robert D. Atkinson, The New Economy: Technology, Innovation, and America’s Recurring Economic Transformations (forthcoming, Fall 2004, Edward Elgar Publishers)
Peter Cappelli, The New Deal at Work: Managing the Market-Driven Workforce
Stephen Herzenberg, John A. Alic and Howard Wial, New Rules for a New Economy: Employment and Opportunity in Postindustrial America.
Paul Osterman, Securing Prosperity.
WWW.PPIONLINE.ORG