What will the future hold for jobs and the work place? In the following paragraphs, we look back to after WWII ended to understand how work changed during that period of time and look forward to gain some insight into the future and the potential impact on jobs.
WORK HISTORY SINCE WORLD WAR II
After World War II, the US was the only industrial country in the world that had factories and a ready to go workforce to run them. As a result, the U.S. became the manufacturer for the civilized world. As time went by and Europe and Japan recovered from WWII, they began to capture more and more of the market as they became more competitive and provided higher quality. This was due to the post war U.S. education, training and funding provided to them. As time went on, the US became too greedy and eventually became non-competitive in the new global economy.
The space race and military industrial complex thrived in the 60’s and up to the mid 70’s provided many jobs for technical and non-technical people. Once man reached the moon and the Vietnam War was over, there was a major recession and poor job opportunities.
In the late 70’s, the government budget focused on energy until Reagan became president. His priority was building a 600-ship Navy and Star Wars defense system. As a result, the job picture became very good especially in the defense sector and in a multitude of small companies across the nation feeding off the defense industry.
Computer companies and software (e.g.Microsoft) came of age and started hiring hundreds and thousands of workers. Things looked good. But starting in the early to mid-80’s, Japan began to flood the American market with lower cost and higher quality cars which eventually had a very adverse impact on the US car manufacturing sector creating large layoffs and very few new hires.
Technology and competition were changing the US job picture significantly resulting in thousands of lost jobs where recovery was not possible. The US was changing from a manufacturing country to a service-based country.
In the 90’s and 2000’s, computers and software companies dominated the job picture in the US. Microsoft, IBM, Dell, Face book, Apple and Google are examples of companies that changed the US and the world. The global economy resulted in virtually all the manufacturing outsourced to foreign countries. To get a good paying job, you needed a highly skilled and educated worker. Trade skill jobs were in demand also because companies could not find enough qualified workers.
CAREER PATH IMPACT OVER THE LAST 70 YEARS
After WWII and continuing into the 60s, there were plenty of jobs. Companies demonstrated loyalty to their employees and vice versa. Pension plans were common. Health benefits were typically provided by the employer. It was not unusual to see fellow employees wearing pins denoting 25, 30 or 35 years of service. A career path typically was based on staying with the same company and getting promoted along the way and then retiring with a pension
Things began to change in the mid to late 70’s when recession driven layoffs forced people to seek other employment just to have a job losing their pension in the process. Employment increased significantly in the 80’s and companies competed to hire the best qualified people which resulted in higher salaries and better benefits. This led to more relocations to other companies. The career path focus began to change to moving up the food chain by hiring on to another company for more pay and higher position. The downside to this approach was losing a pension with each new company.
With computers starting to dominate and secure interconnect links became available, more and more people worked from home. Most did it part time but some’ such as IT folks. did it virtually full time.
The work and career path changes that occurred over the 70-year period post World War II were not predicted but they changed work, work force, and career paths forever. What are the lessons learned we can take from this story and apply it to future work? Here are some to think about:
- Change is inevitable. You cannot change it. You need to anticipate it and be prepared for it as much as possible.
- Technology drives future work. Keep current with new technologies.
- The work force will change to adapt to future work changes. You must adapt as well.
- Company loyalty and employee job security is a thing of the past. Your worth to a company now (and your livelihood security) is predicated on your knowledge and skills.
- Keep on teaching yourself new skills and knowledge. You can no longer rely on a company to provide it for you.