The economic shifts of the past decade represent a new era in the U.S. workplace. Many of the millions of dislocated managers and professionals will not be reemployed in similar jobs because those jobs have disappeared. The economy has changed from the pyramid shape that most people envision, with a large blue-collar base and a smaller white-collar top, to a diamond shape, with a small tip of managers and owners, a large middle of worker-producers, whether white or blue collar, and a small layer of clerical workers. In this new economy, people must find new ways of working. Many are becoming entrepreneurs. Others are retraining in a variety of technical occupations. All, however, must constantly learn new skills and new ways to apply old skills as the economy continues to change. Workers must become generalists, able to do a variety of things. In order to do so, they need college programs to which they can return throughout their lives. Lifelong learning must become a way of life for the workers of the present and the future. (KC)