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(More customer reviews)This is a very short and easy to read book. Yet, it is very informative and insightful. I have read many books covering the same theme written by Peter Drucker, John Naisbitt, Robert Reich, and Lester Thurow among other visionaries and economists. This one is the best on the subject for two reasons. The two authors studied the historical data much more extensively than the others. Also, this book is more focused. The authors did not get sidetracked by many related economic and political issues.
The authors extensive research dispels thoroughly the notion that computerization is bad for employment. To the contrary, computerization has increased both the quantity and quality of jobs.
The authors studied in detail labor trends over the past 40 years to support their conclusion. They uncovered the prescient work of Herbert Simon, who wrote an essay in the 1960s on the change in labor mix with the advent of technologies. The authors documented that for the most part Simon was correct. Due to computerization, the labor mix was going to change materially over the next several decades tilted towards a greater concentration of jobs associated with greater complexity in terms of critical thinking and judgment.
Just as Simon predicted, there is today a far greater percentage of the population involved in complex jobs associated with an intense critical thinking component. Such jobs include managers, professionals, technicians, and many sales related activities. By the same token, there is a far smaller percentage of the population engaged in blue collar routine work.
As mentioned, just as the quality of jobs (greater complexity) has improved immensely during the past several decades, so as the quantity. Between 1969 and 2000, the labor force grew by a staggering 63% from 83 million to 135 million. And, this surge in labor occurred during the most intense computerization era.
If we just observe the change in our own working lives, we can confirm that our job functions have changed dramatically for the better. We all use computers with increasingly powerful hardware that can handle increasingly complex software. In turn, the software replaces many of the routine components of our jobs. It also gives us quick access to a math level which would have been accessible only to PhDs not long ago. I don't think any of us would readily turn the clock back on computerization regarding our specific jobs. The authors will convince you the same is true at the macroeconomic level.
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