Monday, April 8, 1996
Future of Work offers online discussion of today’s job marketBy
Tiffany McElroy
Daily Bruin Contributor
In the modern age of technological advancement and economic
recessions, many corporations and government agencies have been
implementing changes such as downsizing, cutbacks and
restructuring. Finding a secure job for today’s college students is
not as easy as it was few generations back.
In response to this uncertainty, Buddy Nadler, a UCLA senior in
the world arts and cultures department, created a campus-wide,
student-driven online discussion on finding a job in today’s
market. The project, called The Future of Work, will be on the
Bruin Online system, for 10 days beginning today.
"The goal of the Future of Work project is to generate a new
paradigm for work in the growing information economy, which will
more accurately reveal the conditions in today’s job marketplace,"
Nadler said.
The program will pose a different question each day concerning
the future of work.
Nadler formed a panel of 15 UCLA faculty members and 15 students
who will respond to the questions. In addition to the panelists’
feedback, participation from all World Wide Web online users will
be possible on the response page.
Because the subject of work affects virtually everyone at UCLA,
Nadler encouraged all concerned students, faculty and UCLA workers
to respond to the questions with their ideas and opinions.
"The questions and responses of this project will be about
practical concerns, not just hopeful or theoretical (topics),"
explained Paul Apocada, a world arts and cultures teaching
assistant who will be participating on the panel. "The importance
of this use of electronic dialogue is that we will be communicating
about issues and matters (about work) that don’t come up in
academia."
Sample questions from the discussion will include "What will it
mean to graduate from college without the prospect of jobs as we
have known them?" and "How shall we earn money?"
With most companies relying on automation, there will no longer
be a need for mass employment, Nadler said. Today, a company can
hire one person for a job that in the past required several.
Cutbacks in jobs will affect the new generation of college
graduates who hope to find a secure job immediately after
graduation.
According to a report completed by the American Management
Association, in a survey of 1,000 U.S. companies conducted last
June, it is estimated that 60 percent of American companies would
eliminate a number of jobs over the next year. Among the forces
driving cutbacks, according to the report, are increased foreign
competition and the changing nature of work.
With many new jobs requiring knowledge of technological skills,
it is evident that the nature of work in the age of automation will
greatly differ from present conditions.
"The Future of Work is an overwhelming topic for students, but
most people don’t think about it until it affects them," said
Nathan Nguyen, a senior in world arts and cultures, and designer of
the Future of Work web page. "Everyone will eventually be touched
by this subject, so hopefully with a good set of responses, more
people will start thinking about the changes for our future."
Don Hartsock, a former ombudsman at UCLA, has been advising
Nadler on the project. Hartsock argued that radical changes in
technology will drastically affect the nature of work.
"People will be forced into career changes because of how
rapidly technology is moving, and people will not have job security
like there was in the past," he explained.
With these changes, new jobs will be created as the public’s
needs arise, he added.
The Future of Work discussion can be found on the World Wide Web
at http://www.campusweb.com/students/FutureWork
Cutbacks … will affect the new generation of college
graduates.