DescentBB

This post is an off shoot of something Lothar said in phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=4150.

I had a professor in my MBA program that said something that really made me think. He asked everyone in the class what their employers paid them for. After hearing everyones answer he said this:

If your job doesn't involve you actually making a critical decision, then eventually your employer will either program a machine to do it or they will find a way to ship it somehwere cheaper.

Think about it. Your employer pays you to make decisions. If they don't, your job is living on borrowed time.

This links back to what Lothar said about high paying jobs and education. I think he is exactly right.

Thoughts?

That's a bit of a generalization. There will always be a need for labor here state side. If labor jobs in manufactoring were to be outsourced, it would create a huge void in our economy. We can't all be chiefs.

what about salespeople? (almost) anything in the service industry is safe.

yes, and movement industrys (trucking/courier/delivery). are they called service industrys too?

There's dairy farms in here that are fully automated. Totally computerised, self feeding machines and robotic milkers.

I love this new age. It leaves us humans lots of spare time to hate and kill each other.

lol@Flabby

I think Dedmans professor has a point, even considering Dupers point about always needing laborers, the borrowed time analogy does apply. Like we will always need people to cut the grass right....well until someone with an education develops grass that grows to the proper height then stops and stays green all year.

I guess there will always be a need for laborers but the total number per capita is shrinking and will probably never be enough demand for them to cover the number of uneducated people. Education is the key to employment...but we'll have to wait until Bush isn't saying it anymore for it to be cool to agree with it.

As manufacturing, mining and agriculture become more automated or move to low labour cost areas those jobs disappear from countries with high standards of living leaving high skill/knowledge jobs as the engine that generate economic output. The remaining workers are so highly paid that they are supposed to support local low skill/knowledge jobs in the "service sector" which seems to be tour guides, 7-11 clerks, actors, musicians, car detailers etc.
Seems like a recipie for class conflict as this sets up a have-have not society. Hmmmm.... maybe there is some truth in this scenario.