Why Stay in School, Part 1: The Impact of Globalization

I live in a southern rural county in the United States. For the past 6 years I've worked with youth, adults, and laid off (aka "dislocated") workers.

When I get the opportunity these days to talk with young folks who are still in High School, I've stopped talking about the topic "Why Stay In School" simply in terms of the earnings changes that occur as one progresses beyond a High School diploma to anassociate's degree, bachelor's degree, master's degree or doctorate. What I've added to the talk about earnings change is something that I think today's youth (and anyone in the workforce) needs to contemplate when creating their own lifetime learning plan. That added topic is the subject of the impact of globalization and it's potential to decimate America's so called "Middle Class".

Diehard capitalists approach the topic of globalization with the glib assumption that human capital responds as quickly to market fluctuations as the dollars flowing through the stock markets. People don't respond instantly and dispassionately to the changes brought by globalization though...I've witnessed the people who are getting caught in the crunch of globalization. Indeed thousands of families and communities are seeing themselves decimated.Diehard socialists use this reality as a pretext for seeking to indulge their centralizing fantasies to pour more money and resources down the rat hole of government intervention that routinely fails, is rarely reformed, and usually lags decades behind the realities of the market place.

I, like those I speak to, have no control over either the diehard capitalists or the diehard socialists. We can, on our best days, seek to control ourselves and develop plans that help us respond to our environments today and in the future.

So, these days, I urge my hearers to escape the career myths that bind them and inform themselves about globalization so they can take the steps which are in their best interest for creating streams of future income.

For instance, in the county I serve, a venerable manufacturer ruled the economic roost for over a generation. Though it's workforce was gradually whittled down to 1200 from thousands, up until a few months before it's demise, the youth of our county reassured themselves that they need not even finish High School. "After all", they reasoned, "I can always get a job at _____________ like my father and grandfather."

This happened as recently as 2005 for this particular manufacturer.

And though our nation officially had more "service" jobs than "manufacturing" jobs early in the sixties, our youth still believe the myth that there's a factory job requiring little education awaiting them as a "safety net" if they choose to goof off in school. But we're no longer even a "service" economy that welcomes low skilled worker.

The reality of globalization is that "Dumb people are a dime a dozen."

I don't mean to be cruel... but I do want to be shocking.

Globalization is, of course, one of the reasons so many American manufacturing jobs have vanished.

But as the tale of the multinational corporation eSys tells us, globalization even eats away at the jobs that are left for those who are unprepared.

You can read all about it in the April, 2007 edition of Inc.com magazine's description of the firm eSys.

I tell my students about eSys' lean financial operations... they exist by selling computer components for an amount 3% over the cost of goods sold.

They shift operations and processes to the lowest cost areas of the world for that particular item.

Credit insurance, for instance, is purchased in Switzerland and Germany because it's cheapest there.

Then I tell them about the receptionist in eSys' Los Angeles distribution center.

I ask "How much does a receptionist in Los Angeles earn?"

I solicit answers knowing that all of the answers will be completely irrelevant.

Why? Because the receptionist greeting people in Los Angeles lives and works in India, not Los Angeles. There the "upper middle class" enjoys spending a few hundred dollars US monthly, far below the United States minimum wage. She connects with people over aVoIP connection and videolink.

It's cheaper for her to work from India.

I drive this home to try to kill the lingering myth that our children can be prepared to face the impact of globalization with simply a High School diploma.

How many young people assume they can fall back on their High School typing skills and do "office work" like a receptionist just in case there's "no factory job"?

Americans now are not only faced by factory jobs being exported, but even routine service jobs face outsourcing to the degree theeSys model takes hold.

It's not that the eSys model is essentially any different than so many of the other technical support jobs that have shifted to Indian call centers... My hearers though never dreamed they'd be "tech support" geeks.

But many average students may see themselves doing relatively unskilled office work. The eSys example shows that idea of doing unskilled office work or taking orders at the "drive thru" for a fast food restaurant may well be another destructive job myth that keeps the student from driving forward as far as their brains, finances, and endurance will take them. I tell the students I speak with to pursue specialization. While receptionist and drive through positions may evaporate into theethernet , individuals with specialized skills, certifications, and licenses will not so easily be replaced. Students who become lifelong learners with multiple skill sets will be able to adjust more easily to the demands of globalization.

What job seeking myths do the students you care about cherish to their own detriment?