HIGH TECHNOLOGY, EMPLOYMENT AND THE CHALLENGES TO EDUCATION

The contribution of employment in high technology industry to future employment growth in the US economy is estimated to be small. Much high technology employment is not professional work at all, but routine labour, and much of that performed by minority groups with few career opportunities. Most new jobs will occur in occupations requiring no more than secondary education. High technology may generate employment in other areas, but often low grade work performed in the “homework economy”. Appropriate education for employment in high technology industry and in computer-related fields is not necessarily specialised and technical; high-quality general education is probably more important. Instrumental education, ignorant of the demands of high technology, and of the demands a modern economy makes upon high technology, is likely to be counter-productive. Commercial and technical success requires a combination of cultural learning and technical skill.