We have to think about how we prepare people for work, not for a career at Sears, but for a series of job opportunities in, say, customer service. In manufacturing, one of the mainstays of the Midwest economy, machines still make products, and most of the business of buying and selling is still conducted by catalog, fax, and phone. We could see it coming even back then. Flores insists that, even in the computer age, workers still need to understand the basic manufacturing processes. But every time companies replace equipment, they go automated.
Workers have to be ready.
Being ready means more than just mastering a particular software, adds Weisberg. To use computers you have to understand the basic functions of keyboards, hardware, software, and how they connect. You have to know how to adapt to different software. You have to be able to do a little troubleshooting when things go wrong. Job trainers are giving increasing attention to helping workers develop such skills to cope in the new economy.