Your Career Plan
... for Americans along with other nations to control their economic destinies. New technologies in communication and transportation are redefining how the Corporation works. Corporations are no longer single country corporations, now they may have their headquarters in the United States, with production facilities in Taiwan and a marketing force spread out over the globe. In order for this corporation to do well, they have to compete against a simple corporation that is spread across the globe in a similar manner. With this new corporate setup, American workers are finding they are competing in a global economy. Their worth or paycheck is tied directly to what function they serve within the global economy. Americans are also finding that this new corporation setup can adapt quickly. This means they can easily move production facilities and marketing offices to take advantage of cheaper labor. Americans are finding that in order to keep their jobs they have to take less money for their current position. If they do not, their job may be relocated to a country that has cheaper labor. To help us understand what is happening to the American Worker, Reich broke them down into three functional categories that reflect the real competitive positions of workers in the global economy, symbolic-analytic services, routine production services and routine personal services. 1. Symbolic-analytic services: these jobs are based on the manipulation of information. Bankers, lawyers and marketing specialists, to name a few, would be in this category. These people in essence move or manipulate data and information. Most of them work alone or in small teams, if they do work with others, they often have partners not bosses. Their income also varies based on how much money they bring in to the company. Most of them spend a lot of time on planes and in hotels. They are articulate, well groomed and the vast majority of them are white males. Symbolic analysis now accounts for 20 percent of America’s jobs and 40 percent of America’s gross national product. The services that symbolic analyses provide are in high demand around the world, regardless of how their ideas, or manipulation of information, are transmitted. It can be in person or sent to a client via satellite. With the high demand for symbolic analyses, the individuals working in this capacity find their standard of living has increased. They are increasingly finding themselves playing a major part in the global labor market. With United States Universities being quite good at teaching these symbolic-analytic services, it can be concluded that this area of the American work force is well compensated for their services and this area of jobs will continue to grow in the United States. 2. Routine production services, these jobs are repetitious and are often only one part of a larger finished product. This product could be anything from installing a music system in an office building to building a car. These people spend their days working with raw product and/or processing data. Many of these jobs are in large, centralized facilities, with many other people doing the same job. They have supervisors; they are usually paid in an hourly wage, and tend not to have a college degree. Decades ago these jobs where well paid, today it is a different story. Direct competition with foreign workers, most of whom will work for a fraction of the American worker’s salary, is causing these types of jobs to have less and less compensation. Many of these types of jobs are going abroad. Today such services represent about 20 percent of the national product and a quarter of our jobs. 3. Routine personal services are jobs that also entail repetition, but they are done personally. Such as a waitress or a hotel desk clerk. Like production workers, they are paid by the hour and closely supervised, unlike production workers they are in direct contact with the people that stand to be happy if they do a good job. Today such services represent about 20 percent of the national product and about 30 percent of jobs. These workers are usually paid poorly. These workers are sheltered from the direct global competition, but they are affected by the indirect. They have to compete with illegal aliens willing to work for much less. They also have to compete with people from the other categories that are out of work and cannot find another job that pays enough. They also may be phased out by technology. In addition, when the economy goes sour they are often the first to feel the effects. These people will continue to have jobs in the future, but the wage gap between them and the symbolic analysts will continue to grow. These three categories make up at least three of the four categories, the rest of the nations workers are government employees. Most of their jobs are sheltered from the global competition. The important point is that these categories of workers are coming to have different competitive positions in the world economy. Symbolic analysts are holding a commanding position in the global economy. Routine production workers are holding a weak position in the global economy. Routine personal service workers still find themselves in the national labor market, but they are suffering from the indirect effects of the global competition. Reich writes, “So once again, comfortably integrating the American work force into the new world economy turns out to rest heavily on education…” Of the three categories, symbolic analysts tend to have the highest level of education. This tells us they will fair very well in this new and every changing world economy. Below is my break down of typical present day local jobs, taken from the “Career Opportunity” section of the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle, into Reich’s three functional categories. Routine Personal Services Bicycle Mechanic/sales/asst Baker Barmaids/waitress Bartender Busboy Cashier Chauffeurs Cocktail Person Cook Dancers Dental Tech Drafts Person Driver Executive Secretary/Admin Floor Refinishers Glazier/Auto Glass Hotel Desk Clerks and Maids Housekeeper Insurance Sales Janitorial/Maintenance Legal Secretary Mechanic Messenger Nuclear Med Tech Occupational Therapist Plumber Promo Model Receptionist Retail Sales Roofers Sales 2 Teacher 2 Waitress Warehouse Work Routine Production Services Admin Asst/Accounting Clerk Air Cargo Agent Cataloguer/Reader Case Clerk Floral Designer Management Trainee 2 Telephone Sales Symbolic – Analytic Services Engineer Advertising Sales Accountant Drafter/Graphic Artist Financial Planner Marketing Program Analyst Programming This is an analysis of the present day jobs above using Robert Reich’s ideas. We will start with symbolic analytic services. These are the people who manipulate data, words, and oral and visual symbols. These people are normally highly educated. They tend to have bachelors degrees in their related fields. Engineer, Financial Planning, and Programming are just a few jobs in the bay area that would fall in to this category. The jobs in this category are normally paid very well and get great benefits. This category is about 20% of the jobs found in the “San Francisco Chronicle.” So it’s safe to say that Symbolic analytic services takes up about a 5th of San Francisco bay area jobs. The future boasts well for these jobs. They are in high demand and are very well compensated. Next we have Routine Production Services. These people repeat one task over and over again as a step to get a finished product of some sort. These people are normally only high school graduates and might have a certificate of training in some area. Air Cargo Agent, Case Clerk, and Cataloguer/Reader are a few jobs in the bay area that would fall into this category. The jobs in this category are normally paid poorly and get very little benefits. This category is about 20% of the jobs found in the “San Francisco Chronicle.” So it’s safe to say that Routine Production Services takes up about a 5th of San Francisco bay area jobs. The future boasts poorly for these jobs, most will be done over sees in the near future. Last we have Routine Personal Services. These people also do repetitive work, but unlike the Routing Production Services their work has to be done in person. These people are normally only high school graduates and have no further education. Some might not even be high school educated. Bartender, Busboy, Waitress, Cashier, and Cook are a few jobs in the bay area that would fall into this category. The jobs in this category are normally paid poorly and get little to no benefits. This category is about 60% of the jobs found in the “San Francisco Chronicle.” So it’s safe to say that Routine Personal Services takes up about 3/5ths of San Francisco bay area jobs. The future also boasts poorly for these jobs, yet they won’t go overseas like Routine Production Services will, they will still continue to be under paid and over worked. As you can see Routine Production and Routine Personal Services are both dead end careers. Neither of them bode well in the new world economy you will be competing in. On the other hand, Symbolic Analytic Services looks as if they are on the rise and will continue to be. Symbolic Analytic Services are in high demand in the world economy...