Sabaydii my fellow Satjadham,

	I thought of resting Caravan column for this week for I don't have time
as I have to help my wife preparing her term paper. As I write it from
her rough draft, I see that I could use it as an article for my Caravan
column. I am sure it will be of interest to you for it talks about
change in the workforce issues and how it affects us.
	For this week, I can help her finish only the introduction. Hope that
this article will finish in 3 installments. Let me know if you find
anything useful with it.

*****
		Change! How it is affecting us!

	Recently, there is a dramatic change in the economy not only in the
U.S. but in the worldwide scale. This change is caused by the tremendous
growth in technology which inevitably alters our perception of work,
leisure and life overall.  In this paper, I will attempt to address the
workforce issues which are of vital interest and relevance to  us. Here,
I will discuss about the economy, the level of employment, unemployment
and underemployment, how the firm is doing  and what direction it is
heading, how technology is shaping our lives in a radical way, what
training and education one needs to be successful employed or
self-sufficient, what is happening in the European Community Market, the
Far East and the ASEAN, what effects the changing nature of the health
care, child care and financial security have on our approach to work and
the restructuring of our lives. 
 	As a result of this earth-shaking changes, it is of equal importance
for me to talk about how they affect us as a whole or me individually.
Therefore, in this paper, you will find both the trend and its effect on
our lives.  Also, I will substantiate my points with the references and
sources, as needed, throughout the whole paper.

	As late as the early 80s, the U.S. economy is The economy of the world.
You needn’t talk about other economies for they are relatively small
compared to the U.S. economy therefore you are not afraid of the foreign
competition and care less about what other countries are doing
economically. Since the late 80s, the U.S. has changed from the #1
creditor country to the #1 borrower country. Its firms can’t compete
with the foreign firms either in terms of quality or price. As a result,
the U.S. economy, though still relatively strong, is trotting like a
snail compared to the double digits growth of the ASEAN countries and to
the constant growth of the Far East countries. What we see here is the
transfer of the economic power from the West to the East. At the same
time, we can interpret it as the transfer of a "high" standard of living
from the West to the East too. Because of this crucial change in the
dynamic of the U.S.  economy, many adverse impacts have befallen on its
people. That means both its leaders in the government and business
circle along with its citizens have to tackle the whole range of issues
in a new way in order to survive as the #1 economic power in the 21st
century. 

(to be continued)

-- 
Hak phaang,
Kongkeo Saycocie
http://www.cs.sonoma.edu/~saycocie/sjdnews.html