Monday, August 26, 2013

How technology wrecks the middle class

David Autor,a well-known Labor economist, and David Dorn write in the NYT today.

The good news, however, is that middle-education, middle-wage jobs are not slated to disappear completely. While many middle-skill jobs are susceptible to automation, others demand a mixture of tasks that take advantage of human flexibility. To take one prominent example, medical paraprofessional jobs — radiology technician, phlebotomist, nurse technician — are a rapidly growing category of relatively well-paid, middle-skill occupations. While these paraprofessions do not typically require a four-year college degree, they do demand some postsecondary vocational training.

It's not wholly new - a riff on the hollowing out thesis - but worth a look.