Globalization - its Impact on Jobs
Everyone reads the headlines:
Jobs Lost Overseas
Outsourcing
White Collar Jobs Moving to India
For some time, factory jobs have been moving to lower wage countries. More recently, high-speed Internet connections have allowed clerical and white collar jobs to be done much more cheaply in places like India. Even high skilled jobs like reading X-rays have started to be done by low wage doctors outside the US. Students wonder what careers might be safe from such low price competition.
What jobs are safe?
There are several types of jobs that cannot move out of a country:1. Services which must be performed locally, such as in construction, restaurants and hotels, and other on-site services. But many of these jobs can be done by migrants (largely from Latin America), which keeps wages low for such positions.
2. Jobs which require in-person contact. A doctor reading X-rays does not have to meet a patient, but one doing a physical exam does. Similarly, some sales can be done completely by phone, while others (as in a local store or in real estate) must be done in-person.
Training for "safe" careers. Jobs with in-person contact use a set of skills that are rarely taught in schools - social skills. This website is focused on measuring social skills, a key first step. Over 2500 people have learned how others view them, each getting a Social Quotient measure (SQ).
Companies are eager to hire employees who have good people skills (or high SQ): "I must tell you that several students used the SQ when they went for job interviews & it made a great impression (in a few cases, it may have been the deciding factor in getting the job)." Yafa E. Berger, Coordinator of School-To-Work Program, Bedford-Stuyvesant Outreach High School Program, Brooklyn, New York. For more on social skills and other traits that employers value, see:
- Ranking of traits that employers value for entry level jobs
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