To fully understand how and why jobs and employment opportunities are changing and what strategies are needed to address employment and unemployment issues, we must have better information about labor markets. More than ever, new linkages between business, labor and educators are required to create a world class workforce. While these upbeat signs of a rosy economic picture of low unemployment and higher wages persist, we cannot ignore some remaining concerns that exist in our labor markets. While some advances have been made by local and state agencies to provide training and job placement services, much remains to be done. We need new approaches through public and private partnership to the old problem of inner-city youth unemployment.
Technology is a double-edged sword.
It comes with the power of job creation and, at the same time, worker dislocations. About 68 percent of 1,441 large and medium-sized companies created jobs during the year ending June 30, 1996. Large companies were more likely to cut employees than small companies. Middle managers were disproportionately the target of downsizing, according to the survey. The solution is for workers to take personal responsibility for keeping their skill sets current and marketable.