integer on Tue, 13 Jun 2000 06:49:24 +0200 (CEST) |
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zlaver!.zerfdom.uage.earn!ng. >Sorry to have to clarify this for everyone, but what is happening, at >least in the US, is at once more complex and less mysterious. zlaver!.zerfdom.uage.earn!ng. >Fortunately, its also right in front of your nose for anyone who cares >to take their eyes off their laptops for a moment. > That great sucking sound you hear is the rush of fairly well educated >college graduates flowing into all kinds of jobs in the technology field >(very broadly defined) after about twenty years of unemployment or >underemployment. Obviously, few of these people have computer science >backgrounds because those fields of endeavor didn't even exist ten years >ago, much less twenty years. Although some have retrained by taking >classes in BASIC or web page design, many are self taught. They are the >pool of employees for companies like Microsoft, Oracle, or Amazon, where >someone with a Ph.D. in Classical Greek can get a pretty good job if >they can write HTML, work a database, or have a real world background >like (gasp!) working in a bookstore. > Here, in the best of all possible worlds, many of these people held >jobs over the last twenty years in a variety of underemployment >situations. They worked in bookstores and bistros, carpentry, light >construction, ski instruction, taught English at community college, or >had a folk music band. When they got sucked up (in income at least) >into the techno vortex, they left behind them thousands of jobs in every >field of endeavor. > The situation is well documented here. Waiters in good restaurants now >get paid vacations, health club memberships, and investment plans, >because its difficult to find anyone to fill service industry jobs. My >carpenter can't work on my project because he is taking his family to >Denmark to study energy conservation for a few months. My other >carpenter now installs Ethernet networks in homes and doesn't do >remodels anymore. The woman that used to cut my hair now works as a >network admin. My yoga guru doesn't have time to teach because she >builds web pages for the world's largest company. And so on.... > But of course it all flows downhill. Anyone interested in work has no >problem finding it these days in many areas of the US, and if they are >having trouble they can probably move somewhere else. The low end jobs >are now paying quite well. My gardener is paid $25 hour, which is more >than what I make. It is this second wave effect that has really wiped >out unemployment in huge numbers, and it is what will wipe out >unemployment in Europe soon. It is not necessary for everyone to go to >work for a dot com; only a few have to go to open up new jobs for many >more. And I haven't even begun to discuss the growth in the service >sector for jobs for people with no time, like picking up dry cleaning >and delivering meals... > >No need to thank me, > >Mike > > > > >cisler wrote: >> >> In my presentation at tulipomania I showed the chart of the kinds of jobs >> produced here in Silicon Valley. In absolute numbers they were: computer >> engineers, systems analysts, general managers, programmers, janitors, waiters, >> guards, ,math/sci engineers, and receptionists. the diagram is here: >> http://www.jointventure.org/siliconvalley2010/images/fig5.gif >> >> That means that the hotbed of innovation is producing few middle class jobs >> (except programmer) and lots of service jobs plus tons of temp work, but that's >> a whole other trend. >> >> In other regions I'm sure there are less tech jobs being created and more >> service jobs. >> >> Steve Cisler _______________________________________________ Nettime-bold mailing list Nettime-bold@nettime.org http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold