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Career Moves for Tomorrow
| Article
# : |
17413 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
1 / 1990 |
2,307 Words |
| Author
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John Elvin
John Elvin is a columnist for the Washington Times. He has
written extensively on housing topics for periodicals. |
When a futurist tells us that in the year 2000 it is likely that we will commute to work with the flick of a switch, putting in our flextime hours at the "flexplace" of our choice -probably a workstation at home - we tend to react with awe. But such a notion is simply an imaginative extension of workstyles that are currently coming into vogue. The future is not sneaking up on us. It will not jump out from behind a tree some ten years hence and holler, "Boo!" The future is unfolding now, daily.
With that caveat offered, we should also defend the professionalism of those in forecasting field. They provide us with more than just images from a gypsy's crystal ball. They analyze and synthesize data, using sophisticated and sometimes highly creative rules and formulas. Would you believe that the rate of social change in Mississippi can be predicted by viewing current events in Sweden? According to the forecasters, social change occurs first in Sweden, long before it appears in Mississippi, Alabama, and Utah. Because of known patterns of change, the information gathered here is not just seat-of-the-pants guesswork.
Who Will Prosper?
By the turn of the century, 90 percent of the American work force will be employed in service industries, a catchall phrase that includes everything from data processing to theme parks to the neighborhood beauty parlor. But at least half those jobs will involve collecting, analyzing, synthesizing, structuring, storing, or retrieving information, according to Marvin Cetron, author of a number of books on the shape of the future.
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