Job Obsolescence: Challenge and Opportunity

The rate of accumulation of knowledge, and the application of knowledge, now frequently depreciates the value of an education gained in one´s first 20 or 25 years. Experience acquired in the interim may not be a satisfactory substitute for the new knowledge which has become current since one´s formal education. The consequence is to place an even greater premium on recently educated (younger) employees and to accelerate their rate of obsolescence. It is not only production workers who are threatened by new technologies, but professional and managerial personnel as well. They may not lose their jobs, but they may be downgraded on the promotional ladder. What is needed, if we are to avoid piling up frustrations on the part of people still in their physical and mental prime, is a new conception of formal education as something stretching through a person´s lifetime. The additional cost will be more than offset by increased productivity. Even before this becomes public policy, companies can move on their own to encourage their management personnel, beginning with the younger members, to return to the classroom every few years to keep up with the flow of knowledge. Various mechanisms are available to make this a perfectly feasible program.