enrollment rates have picked up noticeably among individuals aged 25 and over. presumably, many of these older students are striving to keep pace with the new demands evolving in the job market. indeed, an important aspect of the changing nature of jobs appears to be that an increasing number of workers are facing the likelihood that they will need retooling during their careers. the notion that formal degree programs at any level can be crafted to fully support the requirements of one ’ s lifework is being challenged. as a result, education is increasingly becoming a lifelong activity ; businesses are now looking for employees who are prepared to continue learning, and workers and managers in many kinds of pursuits have begun to recognize that maintaining their human capital will require persistent hard work and flexibility. 2 peter cappelli, “ are skilling requirements rising? evidence from production and clerical jobs, ” industrial and labor relations review ( april 1993 ), pp. 515 - 530 ; and “ technology and skill requirements : implications for establishment wage structures, ” new england economic review, special issue on earnings and inequality ( may / june, 1996 ), pp. 139 - 154. 3 david h. autor, lawrence f. katz, and alan b. krueger, “ computing inequality : have computers changed the labor market, ” national bureau of economic research working paper 5956 ( march 1997 ). economists have long argued that more than half of the market human capital produced in a worker ’ s lifetime is produced on the job4. several decades ago, much of that on - the - job training was acquired through work experience ; today we are seeing greater emphasis on the value of formal education and training programs for workers. developing human capital is perceived by many corporations as adding to shareholder value. if idea creation is increasingly the factor that engenders value - added, then training and education are crucial to the growth of company value - added and profitability. in the private sector, a number of major corporations have invested in their own internal training centers - - so - called corporate universities. some labor unions have done the same. more broadly, recent surveys by the bureau of labor statistics and by the department of education indicate that the provision of education on the job has risen markedly in recent years. in 1995, the bls report showed that 70 percent of workers in establishments with 50 or more employees received some formal training during the twelve months preceding the survey. most often this training was conducted in house by company personnel, but larger firms also

expect the widespread and effective application of information and other technologies to significantly increase productivity and reduce business costs. certainly, we can already see dramatic improvements in quality control that have sharply reduced costly product rejects and lost time, while computer and satellite technology has markedly improved the efficiencies of moving goods through even more sophisticated, just - in - time, inventory systems. with computer - assisted design, experiments can be evaluated in a virtual reality setting, where mistakes can be readily corrected without the misuse of time and materials. and new technologies have had extensive applications in the services sector - - for example, in health services, where improvements in both diagnosis and treatment have been singularly impressive ; in airline efficiency and safety ; and in secretarial services now dominated by word processing, faxes, and voice and electronic mail. the accelerated pace of technological advance has also interacted with the rapid rise in financial innovation, with the result that business services and financial transactions now are transmitted almost instantaneously across global networks. financial instruments have become increasingly diverse, products more customized, and markets more intensely competitive. the scope and size of our financial sector has grown rapidly because of its ability to facilitate the financing of products and services that are themselves valued highly in the marketplace. our nation ’ s financial institutions, as a consequence, are endeavoring to find more effective and efficient ways to deliver their services. in this environment, america ’ s prospects for economic growth will depend greatly on our capacity to develop and to apply new technology. unfortunately, we have found that we never can predict with any precision which particular technology or synergies of technologies will add significantly to our knowledge and our ability to gain from that knowledge. for instance, alexander graham bell initially viewed the telephone solely as a business instrument - - merely an enhancement of the telegraph for use in transmitting very specific messages. indeed, he offered to sell his telephone patent to western union for only $ 100, 000, but he was turned down. similarly, marconi, at first, overlooked the radio ’ s value as a public broadcast medium, instead believing its principal application would be in the transmission of point - to - point messages, such as ship - to - ship, where communication by wire was infeasible. moreover, we must recognize that an innovation ’ s full potential may be realized only after extensive improvements or after complementary innovations in other fields of science. according to charles townes, a nobel prize winner for his work on the laser, the attorneys for bell