This paper was presented to a meeting of the Wellington Exchange, an international group of higher education officials, in December 2008. One of the topics of the meeting was around the issue of possible skills shortages emerging as a result of demographic trends, with the ageing of the population of developed countries. The paper argues that this…

Information is essential to the functioning of society, and there are many exciting opportunities for information professionals in the future. These professionals must be prepared to meet the need for excellence in their field. Information professionals generally fall within one of two categories: those who support the creation and preparation of…

The Trans Alaska Oil Pipeline project and accompanying increases in economic wealth have had an enormous impact, particularly on Alaskan women. Prior to pipeline construction, the civilian labor force participation by Alaskan women was close to the national average. During and since pipeline construction, this participation rate has soared.…

The job market should be considered as interaction between supply and demand, and not from the perspective of new and emerging occupations. Three recent major post-World War II changes in the human resources posture have tended to create labor surpluses: shift from rural South to urban North, increased number of working women, and the postwar baby…

In this paper the authors attempt to explain and sharpen unresolved issues and questions that have evolved in the study of careers, especially since the concept of "careers" has received increased theoretical and empirical attention across disciplines. The issues discussed involve (1) conceptualization and measurement of careers; (2)…

The metropolitan Miami area is a thriving bilingual community that uniquely exemplifies the utility of Spanish for business careers. Miami is unique in its large Latin population, the success of this population, and the proximity of Miami to the Caribbean and Latin American markets. The impact of the Latin population of Miami on education and…

Since American colleges and universities will need to hire about 500,000 faculty members in the next 25 years, it is important that speech communication graduate schools and current graduate students who will be in that labor pool think about the professional needs of small schools as potential employers of speech faculty. The academic background…

United States economic courses of action--and inaction--are increasingly being based on the employment and unemployment figures put out monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Yet, the basic statistical concepts that are still used were fashioned during the Great Depression and do not take into account the very different conditions we…

Although Hispanic-Americans are the fastest growing segment of the population in the United States and have higher participation rates for males in the workforce than Whites or Blacks, there continue to be significant barriers to the employment of Hispanics. The major barriers to job success include lack of English proficiency and early withdrawal…

This paper reports the results of a survey of 1,277 libraries in Illinois which investigated the status of job sharing in armed forces, college and university, community college, government, law, medical, public, religious, and special libraries and library systems. Job sharing is described as the division of one full-time job between two or more…

By 1980, 50 percent of all Americans were employed in information-related careers, and it is estimated that by 1990, the "Information Society" will have captured 70 percent of careers. The number working in heavy industry today will be reduced 80 percent by the year 2000. As a result of these employment changes, together with the coming…

This paper presents ideas on ways to help graduate students in political science to become more marketable for nonacademic positions. It also includes background information on the changing employment market for Ph.D.'s. These ideas were discussed at a 1980 meeting of teachers, graduate students, and recent Ph.D.'s at MIT. The purpose of the…

After asserting that public institutions should not provide training for nonexistent jobs, this paper reviews problems associated with the accurate prediction of future manpower needs. The paper reviews the processes currently used to project labor force needs and notes the difficulty of accurately forecasting labor market "surprises,"…

The author discusses trends for the future in employment, including (1) wealth creation versus job creation, (2) growth of human services, and (3) growth of entrepreneurship. He states that education for future employment should stress reading, relating, and reasoning. (CH)

The current school reform movement has been plagued by three false assumptions. The first of these postulates that more academic requirements will strengthen the minds of students, improve their reasoning, prepare them for a rapidly changing economy, and make the U.S. economy more competitive. Although it is true that the workers of the future…