Economic News 1990

1990 June
_Commission on the Skills of the American Work-Force_/_National Center for Education and the Economy_
America's Choice: high skills or low wages! (pdf 40MB)
"[pg 15] Since 1969, real average weekly earnings in the United States have fallen by more than 12%.   This burden has been shared unequally.   The incomes of our top 30% of earners increased while those of the other 70% spiraled downward.   In many families, it now takes 2 people working to make ends meet, where one was sufficient in the past...   50% of our population is employed compared with 40% in 1973...   We can no longer grow substantially just by adding new workers...   The new high performance forms of work organization..., [rather] than increasing bureaucracy...reduce it by giving front-line workers more responsibility.   [pg 17] Workers are asked to use judgment and make decisions...   While businesses everywhere complained about the quality of their applicants, few talked about the kinds of skills acquired in school.   The primary concern of more than 80% of employers was finding workers with a good work ethic and appropriate social behavior: 'reliable', 'a good attitude', 'a pleasant appearance', 'a good personality'...   only 5% of employers were concerned about a skilled shortage...   More than 70% of the jobs in America will not require a college education by the year 2000.   These jobs are the back-bone of our economy, and the productivity of workers in these jobs will make or break our economic future...   [pg 18] Two factors stand in the way of producing a highly educated work-force: We lack a clear standard of achievement and few students are motivated to work hard in school.   One reason that students going right to work after school [and those going through college] have little motivation to study hard is that they see little or no relationship between how well they do in school [and on the job] and what kind of job they can get after school [and what compensation they are likely to receive]."

1990-04-17
Rob Peglar
The ETA Saga: How to mis-manage a company according to Control Data Corporation
spin-offs of Control Data Corporation
Control Data time-line

1990-09-07
Andrew J. Cowin _Heritage Foundation_
Campaign Finance "Reform" that Protects Incumbents
"in 1974... 87.7% of House members who sought re-election won re-election.   By 1988 it had become almost impossible for a House member seeking re-election to lose; that year, 98.5% were re-elected."

1990-09-07
Charles McCoy & Todd Mason _Wall Street Journal_ pgA12
audit report by FDIC shows M. Danny Wall's estimates for thrift bail-outs in 1988 were wildly low

1990 Fall
Alan Fechter _PhDs_/_The Bridge_
Engineering Shortage and Short-Fall Myths & Realities (pdf)

1990 Fall
Robert D. Wildman & David A. Ross _Oceanus_
Sea Grant's Role in Marine Education
"In a 1989 study, the National Science Foundation (NSF) concluded that the United States faces a short-fall of about 500K scientists and engineers by the end of the 20th century and that the number could increase to 675K by the year 2006.   One simple reason is that college-age students will number only 24M in the mid-1990s, whereas they were 30M strong in 1980.   On top of this reduction in the available population, only a small portion, about 5%, of these students will actually earn a bachelor's degree in science.   [This study was discredited before 1992.]... In 1989, nearly 9,600 Americans received PhDs in the natural sciences and engineering."
 
 

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