The Future of Jobs Foretold – A Book Review

It is amazing how much of our political discussion is surrounded around the issue of unemployment and jobs. It is especially interesting during times of presidential campaigns, how much print and television time goes towards this hot topic and political issue. Not long ago, the Obama Administration called for the 2009 jobs Summit in Washington DC.

After the group was done discussing the topic the president stated; “the consensus is in and everyone is interested in creating jobs immediately.” Perhaps, it is for this reason that I recently pulled a book out of my personal library and re-read it, it is a book that I would recommend to every American who is interested in this topic of jobs, and the name of the book is;

“The End of Work-Technology, Jobs, and You Were Future; the Decline of the Global Labor Force and the Dawn of the Post-Market Era” by Jeremy Rifkin, foreword by Robert L. Heilbroner, Tarcher/Putnam book publishers, New York, New York, 1995, (350 pp), ISBN: 0-87477-824-7.

Part One; the Two Faces of Technology

The author discusses in detail the issues of why technology is both good and bad, and how disruptive technology, can spell disaster, and abrupt change and how warfare is perhaps the first real use of technology.

Part Two; the Third Industrial Revolution

The author discusses issues from the cotton gin, forward, and the current issues of the productivity in the information age and what it really means to the reality of jobs, work, and indeed, its impact on manufacturing.

Part Three; the Decline of the Global Labor Force

What are the issues of the decline of the global labor force, what happens when our robots, machines, and technology manufacture faster than the world can consume or in more abundant supply than its needs? Speaking of China, one could very well agree with many of the author’s key points and comments here.

Part Four; the Price of Progress and Part Five the Dawn of the Post-Market Era

The comments in these are parts are so utterly profound, and the glimpse of what lies ahead seemingly so real, that we had better consider ways to mitigate this potential future change before it hits us like a brick between the eyes. Please consider all this and get yourself a copy of this excellent book.