Full Citation
Title: Still Walking the Lifelong Tightrope: Technology, Insecurity and the Future of Work
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2018
ISBN:
ISSN:
DOI:
NSFID:
PMCID:
PMID:
Abstract: The economic insecurity fueling our current political climate underscores one of the key challenges of the complex economic restructuring the United States is experiencing. Despite low unemployment and more than nine years of unbroken economic growth, the majority of Americans remain anxious about their economic conditions and futures. The problem has not just emerged since our last great recession, but is linked to a much longer term, slow-moving but increasingly urgent crisis. The crisis is evidenced by a combination of sluggish job growth, stagnating and fluctuating earnings, growing inequality, and widespread economic insecurity. These symptoms are rooted in a process of economic restructuring associated with the rise of information technology as an economic force, coupled with the expansion of multi-national corporations and global trading relationships. The combination has given rise to a deep sense of economic anxiety—and a bit of nostalgia for a more secure economic past—that has fed into rising social and political polarization. Silicon Valley is at the heart of these global economic changes and has been for decades. As the home to successive rounds of cutting-edge innovation in information technology industries, Silicon Valley has not only led the information revolution, but has also experienced the economic changes associated with these technological developments earlier and more deeply than most regions of the country. Though the concentration of technology industries here makes it unique, in many ways the region represents just a more intense version of trends that are being experienced throughout the U.S. economy, and indeed the whole world.
Url: http://www.everettprogram.org/main/wp-content/uploads/TIGHTROPE-2018-REPORT.pdf
User Submitted?: No
Authors: Benner, Chris; Giusta, Gabriela; Auerhahn, Louise; Brownstein, Bob; Buchanan, Jeffrey
Publisher: Everett Program
Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Other
Countries: