From a Working Paper by Dr. William M. Rodgers III, Chief Economist at the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. “Just over 12 years ago, President Clinton’s Labor Department issued the report Future Work: Trends and Challenges for the 21st Century. One of the report’s key phrases was: “where we work, how we work, and when we work has changed.” The report cited three factors that contributed to the change: technology, globalization, and diversity.Future Work provided policymakers and analysts with a comprehensive framework for harnessing these structural changes. It has been over 10 years since the report’s publication. Are Americans better off and what does the future hold?Dr. Rodgers examines these questions in a new working paper entitled, Future Work 2.0: Life After the Great Recession. He describes the macroeconomic context in which Americans live and the type of labor market they will experience over the next five years. He also discusses the greatest challenges Americans will face: a slow recovery from the “Great Recession” and dangerous levels of income inequality, and how the United States is responding to these challenges.”
