WASHINGTON (AP) — Changes coming to American offices, shops and factories will challenge employers, employees and the government to live up to workplace standards established this century, Labor Secretary Alexis Herman said. “In the next century, we face the difficult challenge of living our values in new circumstances and changing conditions,” Herman said in a Labor Day speech she delivered at a job training center in New York.
“There are those who say in the face of all these changes, do nothing. Let the market work. Let the invisible hand point the way. On the other end, there are those who say: stop the clock and close the doors. I believe there’s another approach,” Herman said.
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She said the coming changes should spur greater efforts to fight workplace discrimination, improve job training and adapt worker-protection laws and employee benefits to new flexible work arrangements that can help companies and families.
Among the Labor Department’s predictions for the future:
As demographics change, pressure will grow to correct lingering disparities in employment opportunities and pay between white and minority Americans.
By 2050 the U.S. population is expected to increase by 50 percent, withimmigration accounting for almost two-thirds of that growth. About half of Americans will belong to what are now considered minority groups, compared with slightly more than a quarter today.
Worker education and training opportunities will be a bigger concern for individuals choosing between jobs, and when labor unions and management sit around the bargaining table.
Advances in technology and the globalization of industry will reduce the U.S. supply of low-skilled jobs. Many of the fastest growing jobs in the future will require a college diploma or other special training. Among them: computer engineers, database administrators, desktop publishers, medical assistants, and securities and financial sales people.
The increasing desire by companies and workers for more flexible work arrangements will raise new questions about workers rights and employers’ responsibilities.
Already, one in 10 workers are in an alternative work arrangement. Most, 8.5 million, are independent contractors and 1.3 million others work through temporary help agencies. Only 7 percent of temp workers have health benefits and just one in 10 is eligible for a pension plan.
Assistive technology including voice recognition software and alternative keyboards will make it easier for people with disabilities to join the work force, but they may still need to overcome societal barriers. Currently, three out of four working-age people with disabilities who want jobs don’t have them.
