The reality is that awarding more college degrees does not increase the fraction of the workforce engaged in the professional, technical, and managerial jobs that most graduates would like to land. Instead, the result very often is credential inflation; many occupations that once required only a high school diploma are now open only to those with a four-year college degree, the master’s becomes the new bachelor’s, and degrees from nonelite schools are devalued. We are running up against a fundamental limit both in terms of the capabilities of the people being herded into colleges and the number of high-skill jobs that will be available for them if they manage to graduate. The problem is that the skills ladder is not really a ladder at all: it is a pyramid, and there is only so much room at the top. Throughout our economy and society, machines are gradually undergoing a fundamental transition: they are evolving beyond their historical role as tools and, in many cases, becoming autonomous workers. Carr views this as dangerous and would presumably like to somehow put a stop to it. The reality, however, is that the astonishing wealth and comfort we have achieved in modern civilization are a direct result of the forward march of technology—and the relentless drive toward ever more efficient ways to economize on human labor has arguably been the single most important factor powering that progress. It’s easy to claim that you are against the idea of too much automation, while still not being anti-technology in the general sense. In practice, however, the two trends are inextricably tied together, and anything short of a massive—and certainly ill-advised—intrusion of government into the private sector seems destined to fail at any attempt to halt the inevitable, market-driven rise of autonomous technology in the workplace.
Martin Ford takes a rather bleak approach to the idea that increased education can help deal with the displacement of jobs. First of all, automation and the vast displacement of manual and easily repititive jobs is inevitable. It is those whom believe that education (training poeple to be coders) that will find themselves going against Ford’s opinion.
I pretty much agree that there is a fundamental limit to the number of high skill jobs that we can create, though education can defintely help open up more opportunities and jobs. I don’t necessarily think that job openings for skilled labour to be fixed though, and I think higher education can help alleviate some of the impact.
