Renowned author Daniel Pink is optimistic about the future of the United States and its economy.
But in a speech Monday to Midwestern legislators, he also had a word of warning about their states’ future economies and prosperity.
"One word will obliterate jobs – routine," Pink told attendees at this year’s Midwestern Legislative Conference Annual Meeting.
Workers and policymakers in Michigan and other manufacturing-reliant regions of the Midwest already know what he means. "Routine" jobs in this key economic sector have been lost due to factors such as productivity advances and global-economic pressures.
"The factory floor doesn’t look like it did 40 years ago," Pink said.
And thanks to some other enduring trends – particularly the rise of automation and Asian economies – jobs in other sectors are being threatened and lost as well.
"The same thing is happening with routine work in the white-collar workforce," Pink said.
As result, he believes it is imperative for public policy – from revamping education systems to changing workforce strategies – to reflect this change.
"A different set of abilities matters more, and we haven’t taken that set of abilities seriously enough," said Pink, author of the best-selling "A Whole Mind."
Recent Comments