The Workforce: Where Will the New Jobs Come From?

The worst recession in generations torpedoed 8.4 million U.S. jobs. Getting them back and creating employment means understanding what makes the economy tick

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Jeff Wilson for TIME

Michael Kim landed his job as HomeAway expands to meet growing demand for its online house-rental service.

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That sort of coordination among workers, educators and companies is vital, considering that it can be difficult if not impossible for individuals to know which job to train for next. Even the head of Workforce Solutions admits that focusing on biotech, green energy and video games is really just an educated guess based on Austin's historical strengths and industries that seem poised to grow. One of the reassuring things about capitalism is that over time, workers and companies are pretty good at figuring out the most productive ways to get together. In the short term, though, that realignment can be a struggle.

Even so, there is a clear trend emerging: tomorrow's jobs will require people to add more value than ever before. Consider Samsung's only semiconductor-fabrication plant outside South Korea, which sits in northeast Austin. Since the fall, the factory, which makes flash memory for devices like smart phones and iPods, has been undergoing a $500 million upgrade. In advance of the plant's early-summer reopening, Samsung will hire about 200 engineers and technicians to run and service the new, more sophisticated equipment inside. But with the new factory and those new jobs, 500 other positions have been eliminated: robots, not people, will now transport silicon wafers.

That's actually not so awful, economically speaking. Innovation and increased efficiency are the lifeblood of any economy. But it does mean that as we tackle the topic of creating jobs, we must realize that the sustainable ones will be those that build from a human being's unique abilities, like problem solving and creativity. If we want to encourage high-quality-job creation, we need to find a way to enable economic evolution. We need to set the stage for companies to create tomorrow's goods and services, and we need to be prepared to support workers in their quest to adapt.

Washington Isn't the Answer

In Washington, the bulk of the response to job loss has been to drum up short-term demand. Last year's stimulus package kept the economy from spiraling further downward. Current proposals to extend unemployment benefits and send $100 billion to struggling local governments would have a similar effect--allowing consumers and cities to keep on spending.

Tax cuts for businesses that hire--and then retain--workers will likely wind up doing more of the same. No businessman in his right mind is going to add the long-term liability of a worker simply for the short-term benefit of a tax break. On the other hand, such incentives may accelerate some hiring that would have eventually happened anyway, and that would put more money into consumers' pockets faster. Of course, extra spending and tax cuts contribute to the $1.5 trillion federal deficit, and that drags on the economy.

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