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

Levy, Frank; Murnane, Richard J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0691124027 ISBN 13: 9780691124025

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2005

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

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

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.

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0691124027
• ISBN 13: 9780691124025
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 192