The 21st Century Work Environment

Many people in the United States complain about how much they work during a week. Many are also seen complaining about how they are not being treated fairly in the workforce; they talk about low pay and job security issues. The work ambience has changed drastically from the past to present. Some changes have been for the better but some has just caused unemployment rate to go high. Take a moment and think of all the laborers who work 24 hours a day on a designated place, probably alone if it’s not a construction job. Their disintegrated living places at the work site with no running water, electricity and bathrooms. And who get paid nothing more than $1200 a month. No, I am not taking about the 19th century but the 21st century work environment.

Industrialists always wanted people to separate, pack and tag their products but now they have machines do it for them in no time. Many of the people who worked these jobs are not so ahead when it comes to schooling and are just high school graduates with a lot of experience in their area of work. The use of computers and internet in the work environment has become more prevalent and the functions performed using computers has dramatically increased. The challenge here is being skilled and not stuck in the new economy as technology and globalization open more opportunities for high-end jobs, but reduce the supply of lower- end jobs. Machines have been replacing man over the decades now and it won’t be long before even the medical world starts using machines to perform surgeries and nobody has to be present

According to economists and other analysts, the American, college-educated workforce will face the same pressure that the automotive and manufacturing sectors faced long ago. Employers are already offshoring computer coding, certain types of accounting and medical consultation such as readings of X-rays, CT scans and similar services that require extensive training (Blinder 10). Outsourcing has become very common now. Statistics Brain research institute reported that a total of 2,382,000 U.S. jobs were outsourced in 2015, leaving millions of employees’ jobless and losing billions on wages ("Statistic Brain"). Careers at risk included auditors, lawyers, real estate brokers even chemists. In an excerpt from “The Untouchables”, Thomas Friedman advises that if you expect your work life to flourish, you had better make yourself untouchable. It means jobs of people which cannot be automated, outsourced or digitized. Yes it’s true not all jobs are outsourced to foreign countries like India or China sometimes technology comes in and a job that belonged to the cashier can be done at a self-checkout counter or that of a bank teller can be done through your personal mobile banking applications on your phone. Most of these jobs are called “old middle” job and unless the