for children or the elderly. These
are impossible to outsource or replace with technology (at least until the robot revolution takes off).
In the middle are jobs requiring
routine information processing:
accounting, typing, filing, approving a mortgage application or an
insurance claim. These were once
well-paid jobs held by relatively
educated Americans; now they tend
to be done by iGate Patni’s employees, and in the future, says Autor,
they are likely to be performed by
a computer.
At the top of the market are the
jobs everyone wants. And guess
what? These are the jobs that many
graduates of the American education system are well prepared for.
These jobs require creativity, problem solving, decision making, persuasive arguing, and management
skills. In this echelon, a worker’s
“The U.S. system is
more geared to
innovation and
practical application,”
says Murthy. “It’s
really good from
high school onward.”
David Autor, an MIT economist who
has drawn the clearest picture any-
where of the impact of technology
and globalization on labor markets.
He describes the pattern as “labor-
market polarization.” At the bottom
of the market, there’s a growing
number of service-sector jobs that
require hands-on interaction in
unpredictable environments—
driving a bus, cooking food, caring
skills are unique, not interchange-
able. “These jobs deal with a tremen-
dous amount of information, but
the added value of the worker is in
doing the non-routine parts,” says
Autor. Technology and outsourcing
routine tasks make these top work-
ers even more powerful and produc-
tive, giving them even more data
and tools with which to innovate.
Even in reverse, we’re thinking ahead.
