First, there is a widening inequality of wages. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at accelerating rates. The middle class is experiencing real wage reductions. Second, corporate downsizing is no longer an anomaly. Downsizing is the way that business will continue to be conducted.
Job insecurity is directly proportional to the lack of skills.
And third, and most applicable to the field of workforce education, there is a growing segment of the population who are unemployable. Thurow calls them the lumpen proletariat . As capitalism demands an increase in job skills, the size of the lumpen proletariat also increases. These characteristics are apparently palatable at present, but, based on their current trends, will soon result in an untenable situation, a critical mass. Although the middle class is not scared yet, Thurow contends that they certainly should be.