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Jobs for High School Graduates
Pages 1-16

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From page 1...
... Some observers prophesy a bifurcated America, in which only the most technologically sophisticated and those willing to perform repetitive, menial tasks will find ready employment.1 Others foresee much more egalitarian workplaces, where workers will exercise far greater control over the way they work and the quality of the goods and services they produce. What do these possible changes mean to the career prospects of young people without advanced education?
From page 2...
... Well over half of the young high school graduates in the civilian labor force find work in wholesale or retail trades or the service sector.4 This contrasts with the experience of those lacking high school diplomas, who hold a slightly higher proportion of the jobs in manufacturing industries and construction. From the very outset, therefore, a high school diploma makes a difference.
From page 3...
... New graduates rarely get the most desirable jobs. About half of the employed 16- to 24-year-olds are service workers, clerks, or nonfarm laborers; only about 5 percent are managers or administrators.
From page 4...
... Jobs Tomorrow Even in a period of apparently rapid and unpredictable dislocation, continuity remains a dominant feature of American working life. Changes in employment patterns and workplaces occur constantly, but generally by gradual evolution rather than drastic upheaval.
From page 5...
... Today, with the age of the small computer upon us, hundreds of thousands of Americans still work -- and for the foreseeable future will continue to workas pencil -and -paper bookkeepers.
From page 6...
... Bureau of Labor Statistics, over the next decade manufacturing industries are expected to continue to lose ground in proportion to some faster growing sectors, notably services, although the absolute number of jobs in manufacturing industries will increase. Government's share of employment will remain fairly stable.8 High-technology industries will grow rapidly, but will not become major sources of employment because they start from so small a base.9 For example, while jobs for computer service technicians are projected to double by 1995, their proportion of total employment is barely measurable -- less than one percent.
From page 7...
... Legal services, finance, insurance, real estate, and new construction, for example, will be among the net gainers.10 In most industries, the need to compete effectively with foreign commerce will mean increased attention to quality and costs of production and, therefore, increased need for an ever more competent labor force.11
From page 8...
... The example of overseas competitors has shown the value of asking for advice on improvements from the people who are closest to the work. Some firms have established quality circles, smaller, more informal work groups, quality-of-life committees, and various other forms of labor-management cooperation.
From page 9...
... Computer applications and automation will increase productivity and quality. Intensified mechanization, instrumentation, and computerization will assist managers and employees in making more rapid and accurate decisions about work functions; new transmission technology, coupled with greater availability of timely data, will permit more rapid and exact communication within and among organizations.
From page 10...
... The shift from mechanical repair to computer repair requires new knowledge, but the simplicity of product design and the power of new technology to assist in diagnosis may make computer repair less demanding than traditional mechanical repair. Situations requiring decidedly higher skills also will arise as some new technologies generate new industries.
From page 11...
... They can expect, like their predecessors, to find opportunities in all kinds of enterprises. To be sure, many large organizations, public and private, have experienced only modestly rising, static, or even falling employment levels in recent years as they introduced additional automated equipment and restructured jobs around it.
From page 12...
... Silvestri et al., "Occupational Employment Projections Through 1995," Monthly Labor Review, Vol.
From page 13...
... Skills obtained in vocational courses or previous work experience might be crucial, therefore, to getting a good job with a small employer; such skills often matter less to large employers who intend to put a new worker through a training program anyway. Because small employers constitute so significant a number of those who hire young workers, vocational skills, in addition to a sound education in the core competencies, certainly increase employability.
From page 14...
... This may be the single most important fact that young people need to understand about the job market. Careers are built on performance over a number of years and, ideally, on a number of increasingly desirable jobs.
From page 15...
... 4 "Service-producing industries -- broadly defined as transportation, communications, public utilities, trade, finance, insurance, real estate, other services, and government -- are projected to account for almost 75 percent of all new jobs between 1982 and 1995." See page 24 and Table 1, page 25, for definition of service-producing and goods-producing industries in Valerie A Personick, "The Job Outlook Through 1995: Industry Output and Employment Projections," Monthly Labor Review, Vol.


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