Articles

“The 2010 Meltdown”

Jana M. Kemp

If you’ve ever wondered how you’ll fill the job opening you have today, consider how you’ll fill the jobs you’ll need filled in 2010. Author of more than a dozen books on workplace skills and education, Edward Gordon’s newest book, “The 2010 Meltdown” predicts that the retiring baby boomers won’t have enough young, well-educated people following them to fill the jobs needed by American businesses.

Parts One and Two of the book tell the story of the difficulties ahead regarding filling jobs, finding the right people with the right education and skills, and how various countries are competing for people to fill jobs.

Part Three of “The 2010 Meltdown” is headlined “structuring renewal.” The focus in this part is on changes that can be made now and the final chapter is on how we proceed beyond 2010. Chapter 6: The “Sixth Discipline” discusses how critical continual learning is and the role that employee training plays in the success of an organization.

In your organization, who are the people that you know focus their efforts on continually learning new things? Who are the people that can explain, demonstrate and coach development of skills that are critical to your organization? And who can you count on to transform information, research, and knowledge into the results, products and services that matter to your company? Look around. Recognize, encourage and reward these people so that you can keep them on your team rather than loosing them to someone else’s organization.

Throughout the book, Gordon makes the case that without changes and improvements in the U.S. education system, we will have an increasingly difficult time finding the workers we need for continued productivity and success in this country. In Idaho, that means continuing the conversations begun over the last decade about improving reading, math, and science skills, and the focus on reducing dropout rates and increasing graduation rates as well as overall student achievement.

Whether you work in a business, service sector, non-profit organization, governmental agency, or school setting, Gordon’s book prompts critical thinking about where we are headed and what we need to be both discussing and taking action upon in order to prevent a 2010 meltdown of our workforce and our economy.

Action Item: Read “The 2010 Meltdown: Solving the Impending Jobs Crisis” by Edward E. Gordon (Praeger, 2005) to gather ideas for solving the impending crisis in filling jobs of all kinds.

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Reprint Permission: The author is willing to grant reprint permissions. Please contact Jana Kemp: jana@janakemp.com or call 208-367-1701.