again, nothing to disagree with there.
i think people used to think that as long as they weren't a "low-skilled" factory worker their career choice was safe.
but as a professional in the IT industry i've found over the past 15 years how quickly things change. the global information age makes professional services just as transportable overseas as manufacturing jobs.
(and regarding the myths, i'm not trying to say that america is "losing jobs" overseas but even without elminiating my job, my hourly rate has been cut in half. again, not saying the market isn't working properly, it is, i'm moving out of that career into something else -- but there is just something nagging me about the big picture long term. CEOs and management could careless about anything but costs until stockholders figure out that companies themselves can be managed for a much lower cost overseas.)
i don't disagree with you but it is not limited to low-cost, low-skill work.
From what I remember, IT had a great run in the 90's but took a big hit after Y2K. I thought they had recovered since then, not only in the availability of jobs, but also with earnings. I'm surprised.
I'm probably a little older than you are and I have had to continuously update my skill sets and education. In the 12 years I've been with my current company, we've doubled our sales volume but have cut the number of employees by one-third.
The guys who didn't survive lost their positions because they didn't have the skills necessary to continue to create value for the company. They have also had a hard time finding new positions paying what they used to earn.
I don't think they fully understood just how competitive the world has become. The bottom line though is that our unemployment rate is lower than the averages of the past three decades, real incomes continue to rise, home ownership is at an all time high, household net worth is at an all time high, interest rates remain low and the economy continues to hum along.
There is more opportunity now in this country than at any other time in my life. I only wish I was 20 years younger.