There was a very interesting article in the New York Review of Books,
29 Feb, p47-52, "The New, Ruthless Economy", by Simon Head. It gave
considerable detail on how earnings of non-supervisory workers in the
U.S. have fallen while productivity has risen, relating that to "lean
production", "reengineering" and TQM/Denning type techniques. The
main theme was that higher productivity has not been rewarded
with higher wages, but Head also concludes that
"Retraining programs are certainly necessary to help discharged
workers aquire new skills, often skills involving some form of
computer processing. But the requirements of the new
mass-production economy make themselves felt most strongly among
the younger people entering the labor market. The economy of
lean production has no need for a large and growing supply of
younger workers who have had the kind of German-style training
for technically advnaced production work that so attracts
Clinton and Reich...."
Bill
/-------------------------------------------------------------------------\
| Bill Rosenberg, Systems Manager, Centre for Computing and Biometrics, |
| P. O. Box 84, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand. |
| [EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone:(64)(03)3252-811 Fax:(64)(03)3253-865 |
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