The common belief is US jobs are going overseas where labor is cheaper and restrictions are more lenient. Is this really the case? Based on Robert Lawrence and Martin Bailey’s study in 2006, only 10-percent of the jobs lost were exported. The other 90-percent were lost because of increased productivity and demand.
What does this mean for US workers? It means education is even more important. As technology continues to increase machine driven production, more blue-collar jobs will continue to disappear. Their disappearance has caused the demand for continuing education to skyrocket. Just two generations ago, one out of every five people in the US went to college. Today 65 percent of high school students continue their education.
To be a professional now demands exceptional technical skills and an increased wealth of industry specific knowledge. Even blue-collar jobs require more skill than they did just 10 years ago. How does someone keep up with the rigorous demands of today’s educationally driven economy? Professionals take continuing education classes to stay ahead of the curve. The increased demands on their time have led to revolutionary learning options, such as online classes and quick refresher courses sent to mobile devices. Examples of this are the classes provided by Shaun England’s LearnLive Technologies.
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