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What are the challenges for the workforce in the future?

Mobility

Let us start by looking at the USA and trends that have had an important role in the development of society. The USA is as big as a continent, where each state can be compared to the individual countries in Europe. Unlike in Europe there is one language and one currency. Moving from one state to another is like moving between counties in Norway. The workforce has a long tradition moving across such borders.

South to north

After the Civil War a lot of Afro-Americans moved from the South where they had been slaves to the larger industrial cities in the North. It can be described as a migration from the Sunbelt to the Snowbelt of America. Today the movement has found other directions.

Expensive houses in the city

Real estate prices have lead to many companies looking for new locations for their production away from the larger cities in the North. Once a firm has been established in a small community, the workers tend to move into the area. Many people have found it practical to live in small towns, where the cost of a one family home is affordable.

Technology

Today many people can even work in their private homes. The only thing they need is a telephone line and a computer. This trend has lead to a much more comfortable life for the individual worker, financially speaking. They live in a nice house, which they can afford because it is not in the middle of a metropolitan area. In the local community this has lead to more tax money for the authorities. This in turn has enabled them to offer the population a more varied set of public services.

Back to the South

Another trend, which has been very obvious in the USA the last few decades, is the migation back from the Snowbelt to the Sunbelt. The most popular states are California, Florida and Arizona. The whole trend started with senior citizens wanting to get away from the cold winters in the North. After they had settled in the South the need for infrastructure grew and made many companies move there to cater for their needs.

Better education

Flexibility has always been the key word for the working force in America both when it comes to physical location and the tasks that have to be dealt with. A demand for better education seems be the road forwards into the future. Well-educated workers will travel on a superhighway to higher incomes and better working conditions, while workers with fewer skills will hit a dead-end with worsening living standards.

A consequence of this trend could easily be an American society with a lot of people who are unable to find well-paid jobs. The few menial jobs that will be there in the future probably will give rather low pay. For society this means that they will have to taken care of by the welfare programs. To prevent this it is essential that efforts are made in the schools to give the next generation a very good education.

Global mobility - languages

When looking into the future it is natural to keep in mind that the whole world is going through a change in the field of mobility. Barriers are taken away and people will be able to move around the whole world in search for work and a good income for themselves. The following factors will probably be of the greatest importance; the development of new technology, global competition for jobs and trade, and the growing differences in the quality of the workforce. First in line will be all those who were able to get a good education and those who understood that the way to the world is to know foreign languages.