1. A Gift of Fire Fourth edition Sara Baase
Chapter 6: Work

2. Changes, Fears, and Questions
The introduction of computers in the workplace generated many fears
Mass unemployment due to increased efficiency
The need for increased skill and training widens the earning gap
New trends still generating fears
Offshoring of jobs will lead to mass unemployment
Employers use of technology to monitor their employees
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3. Impacts on Employment Job creation and destruction
A successful technology eliminates or reduces some jobs but creates others
Reduced the need for telephone operators, utility meter readers, mid-level managers
New industries arise
Internet
Cellular communications
Lower prices increase demand and create jobs
Music industry changed from serving the wealthy to serving the masses, employing more than just musicians
Losses
As the use of ATMs grew, the number of bank tellers dropped by about 37% between 1983 and 1993.
The number of telephone switchboard operators dropped from 421,000 in 1970 to 164,000 in (The number of long-distance calls increased from 9.8 billion to 94.9 billion.)
Railroads computerized their dispatch operations and eliminated hundreds of employees.
Travel agencies closed as consumers made airplane reservations online.
Digital cameras put film processors out of work; Kodak, founded in 1880, laid off thousands of employees and filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012.
As use of cellphones increased, the number of employees in the wired telecommunications industry dropped by more than 120,000.
Gains
Contrary to predictions in the early 1990s, the number of bank tellers climbed to new highs in 2008.
By 1997, more than 109,000 people worked in the cellular communications industry in the U.S.
Manufacturing productivity in the U.S. more than doubled between 1980 and 2002.
By 1998, the Semiconductor Industry Association reported that chip makers employed 242,000 workers, directly, in the U.S. and 1.3 million workers indirectly. The chip industry, which did not exist before the microprocessor was invented in the 1970s, ranked fourth among U.S. industries by annual revenue.

4. Impacts on Employment Job Creation and destruction
Unemployment rates fluctuate
Growth of computers has been steady, while unemployment has fluctuated widely
Unemployment has more to do with an economy’s ability to adapt to change.
“Job churn”, roughly 30 million jobs opening and closing in the U.S. each year, is typical of a flexible economy. In stagnant economies, people do not change jobs often.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an international organization whose members include most of western Europe, North America, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, studied employment trends in 25 countries and concluded that unemployment stems from “policies…[that] have made economies rigid, and stalled the ability…to adapt.”12 The study suggested that “unemployment should be addressed not by seeking to slow the pace of change, but rather by restoring economies’ and societies’ capacity to adapt to it.”

5. Impacts on Employment Job Creation and destruction
Are we earning less?
Since the 1970s, wages decreased but fringe benefits increased
People work fewer hours since the Industrial Revolution
Decrease in take-home pay may be due to other factors (e.g. increased taxes)
Purchasing power increases as prices fall

6. Impacts on Employment Changing Skills and Skill Levels
The new jobs created from computers are different from the jobs eliminated.
New jobs such as computer engineer and system analyst jobs require a college degree
The Facebook app industry alone accounted for between 180,000 and 235,000 fulltime jobs in the U.S. in 2011.
The enormous growth of retail sales on the Web contributed to an increase in jobs in the package shipping industry.
As demand increases for new skills, people acquire them. Something went awry with this natural process in recent years. When unemployment was extraordinarily high in , many thousands of jobs went unfilled in engineering and other high-tech fields because there were insufficient qualified applicants. Colleges and graduate schools produced large numbers of trained people, but, for example, 62% of those earning doctorates in electrical engineering were foreign students, and most had to return to their countries because of immigration restrictions.

7. Impacts on Employment Discussion Questions
What jobs have been eliminated due to technology?
What jobs that were once considered high-skill jobs are now low-skill due to technology?
What new jobs have been created because of technology?
Do automated systems mean fewer jobs for high-skilled workers?
Will human intelligence in employment be “devalued”?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects many jobs to be available that require little, if any, computer skill. Areas in which the BLS expects the most new jobs created through 2018 include nursing, home health aid, retail and office clerks, and food preparation and service.
Software makes decisions that used to require trained, thinking human beings. Computer programs analyze loan applications and decide which to approve. Some programs are better than people at predicting which applicants are likely to default on their loans.
Some computer programs write computer programs, reducing the need for training programmers.

8. Impacts on Employment Telecommuting
Working at home using a computer electronically linked to one's place of employment
Mobile office using a laptop, working out of your car or at customer locations
Fulltime and part-time telecommuting

9. Impacts on Employment Telecommuting Benefits
Reduces overhead for employers
Reduces need for large offices
Employees are more productive, satisfied, and loyal
Reduces traffic congestion, pollution, gasoline use, and stress
Reduces expenses for commuting and money spent on work clothes
Allows work to continue after blizzards, hurricanes, etc.

10. Impacts on Employment Telecommuting Problems
Employers see resentment from those who have to work at the office
For some telecommuting employees, corporation loyalty weakens
Odd work hours
Cost for office space has shifted to the employee
Security risks when work and personal activities reside on the same computer

11. Impacts on Employment Discussion Questions
Would you want to telecommute? Why or why not?
How has technology made entrepreneurship easier? Harder?

12. Impacts on Employment A Global Workforce
Outsourcing - phenomenon where a company pays another company for services instead of performing those tasks itself
Offshoring - the practice of moving business processes or services to another country, especially overseas, to reduce costs
Inshoring - when a foreign company employs people locally in my country
Almost 5% of U.S. workers are employed by foreign companies
Offshoring of skilled work, sometimes called “knowledge work” has increased dramatically, raising concerns about loss of high-paying jobs among the middle class. In some fields, a significant reason for offshoring is that there are not enough trained professionals in the U.S.

13. Impacts on Employment A Global Workforce
Problems and side effects of offshoring
Consumers complain about customer service representatives, because accents are difficult to understand
Employees in U.S. companies need new job skills (e.g., managing, working with foreign colleagues)
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14. Impacts on Employment
Employers often prohibit employees from using their work , computers, and other devices for personal use.
What about employees using personal accounts, social media, laptops, smartphones, and other devices for work?

15. Impacts on Employment
Roughly half of major companies in U.S. sometimes monitor the or voice mail of their employees on company systems.
Most companies monitor infrequently, some routinely intercept all .

16. Impacts on Employment
Many major companies use software tools that provide reports on employee Web use.
Employees spend time on nonwork activities on the Web
Some companies block specific sites (e.g. adult content, sports sites, job search sites, social-network sites)
Is nonwork Web use at work a serious problem for employers, or is it the modern equivalent of reading a newspaper, listening to the radio, or making a quick personal call at one’s desk? One large U.S. company found that on a typical day, employees viewed 50,000 YouTube videos and listened to 4000 hours of music. These activities caused a significant slowdown of the company’s Internet service.
Another obvious concern is that employees are not working the hours they are paid to work.
Some psychologists argue that allowing some personal online activity improves employee morale and efficiency.

17. Impacts on Employment
Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) prohibits interception of and reading stored without a court order, but makes an exception for business systems
Courts put heavy weight on the fact that computers, mail, and phone systems are owned by the employer who provides them for business purposes
Some privacy advocates and computer ethicists advocate a revision of the ECPA to prohibit or restrict employers from reading employee .

18. Impacts on Employment Discussion Questions
It is reasonable for employers to fire employees for content of their blogs, tweets, or posts on social networks?
Are there good reasons for employers to be concerned about what their employees post in such places?

19. Impacts on Employment Monitoring location and equipment usage
Electronic identification badges that serve as door keys
Provide increased security
Allow monitoring of employee movement
Is it reasonable for a nurse or city employee working out in the field to expect his or her location, while working, to be private?
Should employer policies permit employees to turn off locating devices while they are on break?

20. Impacts on Employment Monitoring location and equipment usage
GPS tracks an employee's location
Used in some hospitals to track nurse locations for emergency purposes, also shows where they are at lunch or when they use the bathroom
Used to track long-haul trucks to reduce theft and optimize delivery schedules, also detects driving speeds and duration of rest breaks
Employees often complain of loss of privacy

21. Impacts on Employment Discussion Questions
How much privacy is reasonable for an employee to expect in the workplace?
Under what circumstances is it appropriate for an employer to read an employee's ?