Despite the wealth of bad news about the future
of good jobs in North America, there is still cause for
long-range optimism.
According to George Pickett of Northrop Grumman, "technology
is just putting stuff on the table today, in the commercial
marketplace and in the industrial world, at rates that did not
exist in the 1950's."
Pickett, once one of the Pentagon's premier strategists,
believes that "in 2050 we will still be the world's leading
industrial power . . . [because] this country and the people in
it are just remarkably good at reshaping what they do and what
this country does to respond to where the world is going.
"Skills have become increasingly important to firms. The
ability to tap and find the skilled people in the organization
that can work your particular problem and make things happen,
that becomes extremely important," explains Pickett.
"We expect turnover," says Pickett. "Where somebody may have
changed major skill fields three times in their life, they're
more likely to change them seven times now."
With 54 being the average age of an employee in the defense
sector, Pickett points out turnover and skill development take
on a sudden urgency.
"Skilled workers are going to have a lot more power in the
marketplace," explains Pickett.
"How do you tap those skills? How do you develop those
skills? And how do you bring those skills along?" asks Pickett.
The answers to those questions may very well decide the kind
of manufacturing sector this country creates for itself in the
coming decades.