The New Division of Labor: How Computers Are Creating the Next Job Market - Hardcover

Levy, Frank; Murnane, Richard J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691119724 ISBN 13: 9780691119724

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2004

Synopsis

As the current recession ends, many workers will not be returning to the jobs they once held--those jobs are gone. In The New Division of Labor, Frank Levy and Richard Murnane show how computers are changing the employment landscape and how the right kinds of education can ease the transition to the new job market.


The book tells stories of people at work--a high-end financial advisor, a customer service representative, a pair of successful chefs, a cardiologist, an automotive mechanic, the author Victor Hugo, floor traders in a London financial exchange. The authors merge these stories with insights from cognitive science, computer science, and economics to show how computers are enhancing productivity in many jobs even as they eliminate other jobs--both directly and by sending work offshore. At greatest risk are jobs that can be expressed in programmable rules--blue collar, clerical, and similar work that requires moderate skills and used to pay middle-class wages. The loss of these jobs leaves a growing division between those who can and cannot earn a good living in the computerized economy. Left unchecked, the division threatens the nation's democratic institutions.


The nation's challenge is to recognize this division and to prepare the population for the high-wage/high-skilled jobs that are rapidly growing in number--jobs involving extensive problem solving and interpersonal communication. Using detailed examples--a second grade classroom, an IBM managerial training program, Cisco Networking Academies--the authors describe how these skills can be taught and how our adjustment to the computerized workplace can begin in earnest.

About this title

About the Author

Frank Levy and Richard J. Murnane coauthored the bestselling Teaching the New Basic Skills (Free Press). Levy is the Daniel Rose Professor of Urban Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His books include The New Dollars and Dreams: American Incomes and Economic Change. Murnane, an economist, is Juliana W. and William Foss Thompson Professor of Education and Society at Harvard University. His books include Who Will Teach?: Policies that Matter.

From the Back Cover

"A timely contribution. The New Division of Labor adds an important level of understanding to the changes we are witnessing in our labor markets. There is a message regarding the skills that are required by our economy and implications for educational reform and a message as to the political tensions that accompany this transition. The phenomenon described is of global relevance."---John Reed, Interim Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange

"Levy and Murnane go beyond conventional accounts of the effect of automation on the workforce to take a comprehensive and thoughtful look at how increased use of technology is affecting the occupational distribution in the U.S., and precisely what skills are likely to be valued in tomorrow's labor markets. This should be read by all who care about the future of work in America."--Lawrence H. Summers, President, Harvard University

"A fascinating, important book. Levy and Murnane tackle one of the most important questions in contemporary economics, how computers change the way work is organized and how labor markets reward skill. The answer they offer is simple and powerful."--James B. Rebitzer, Case Western Reserve University

"This book, through a wealth of examples, gives the reader a concrete sense of how computers have changed the nature of the workplace."--John Bound, University of Michigan

From the Inside Flap

"A timely contribution. The New Division of Labor adds an important level of understanding to the changes we are witnessing in our labor markets. There is a message regarding the skills that are required by our economy and implications for educational reform and a message as to the political tensions that accompany this transition. The phenomenon described is of global relevance."---John Reed, Interim Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange

"Levy and Murnane go beyond conventional accounts of the effect of automation on the workforce to take a comprehensive and thoughtful look at how increased use of technology is affecting the occupational distribution in the U.S., and precisely what skills are likely to be valued in tomorrow's labor markets. This should be read by all who care about the future of work in America."--Lawrence H. Summers, President, Harvard University

"A fascinating, important book. Levy and Murnane tackle one of the most important questions in contemporary economics, how computers change the way work is organized and how labor markets reward skill. The answer they offer is simple and powerful."--James B. Rebitzer, Case Western Reserve University

"This book, through a wealth of examples, gives the reader a concrete sense of how computers have changed the nature of the workplace."--John Bound, University of Michigan

Reviews

As computers make inroads on every aspect of business, will people cease to matter? That’s the underlying question of this fascinating examination of the new labor market. In lucid prose, Levy and Murnane—economics professors at MIT and Harvard, respectively, and co-authors of the 1996 bestseller Teaching the New Basic Skills—present their answer, and their expectations regarding how computers will affect future wages and job distributions. They begin by debunking the common perception that computers eliminate jobs; the truth, they say, is that "computers are Janus-faced, helping to create jobs even as they destroy jobs." Supported by trend data—clearly laid out in charts, graphs and extensive footnotes—they argue that every technical advance since the introduction of computers to the workplace "shifts works away from routine tasks and towards tasks requiring expert thinking and complex communication." Levy and Murnane also assert that, while it is easy to point to all the new service economy jobs that involve standing behind fast-food counters, the majority of newly created jobs have put workers behind desks, in control of computers and in front of other humans where they are asked to use cognitive skills that outstrip any computer’s capability. But if the replacement of humans by computers isn’t a realistic crisis, the authors do point out another looming problem: a possible shortage in properly trained workers. Blue-collar and clerical workers displaced by computers already have a difficult time adjusting to the requirements of the new high-wage jobs, and, if educational curriculums aren’t changed to reflect the market’s demand for sophisticated thinking and communication, students may graduate without the skills they need either. Readers interested in labor and technology shouldn’t be put off by this book’s dull cover art. Its contents are anything but boring.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0691119724
• ISBN 13: 9780691119724
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 200