In a Global Economy, Lifelong Learning Is Crucial to U.S. Economic Growth

Computerworld - With growing fear and anger over the rapid expansion of offshore outsourcing, there has never been a more important time to seek input from education, labor, government and business leaders to determine how to fast-track programs that will help the growing number of displaced workers.
Right now, many people are attempting to stop the wave of globalization that is sending an increasing number of jobs overseas. Such efforts are a waste of valuable time, energy and resources.
The fact is, there may be no way to halt the migration of jobs to foreign countries where the labor force is highly educated and less costly. Evidence of this can be seen in a new survey by DiamondCluster International, a Chicago-based management consulting firm, that found that, despite the growing threat of a backlash against outsourcers, 86% of the 182 buyers of outsourcing services polled expect to send more jobs overseas in the next 12 months.
A widely cited 2002 report from Forrester Research Inc. estimated that by 2015, the number of service-sector jobs relocated to foreign countries such as India, Korea and China could reach 3.3 million -- a figure that may be conservative, based on recent trends. A later study by the University of California, Berkeley, concluded that as many as 14 million white-collar jobs could be at risk of moving overseas.
There's no doubt that the movement toward a global economy will be filled with disruptions and hardships for American workers. We have already seen its effect in manufacturing, where many people in their 40s and 50s were stranded with few options after their jobs were sent to wherever the labor was least costly.
However, the solution isn't to halt outsourcing.
The globalization of the workforce is a natural force, like a tornado. We don't try to stop tornados. Instead, we research and develop ways to limit the damage they cause.
We should take the same approach with offshore outsourcing. Instead of trying to halt the expansion of the global economy, we must direct our efforts toward preparing the workforce to compete in it.
Just as our country and workforce have adapted to the globalization of manufacturing jobs, we will adapt and survive the globalization of service and information jobs. There's no reason to think that our workforce can't be redeployed in new directions and endeavors. However, to do this we must restructure our education system to reflect the fact that lifelong learning is crucial to our economic growth.
Not doing so will not only worsen the plight of