Postindustrial In-depth Look

The Postindustrial economy is an economic system based on service work, using symbols, and high technology such as computers to facilitate the market. This first started when computer technology was introduced in the 1950s. There are pros and cons to having this type of economy. Robotics has and still has the potential to replace all of human labor. This is convenient for productivity such as car making and farming and is much cheaper. Communication is also enhanced with computer technology as well for trade conveniences. However, lack of manufacturing jobs in a Postindustrial economy such as replacements by robots and outsourcing manufacturing jobs to other countries means fewer jobs in the US. As a result, lower wage skilled workers are struggling to find a job as of now. Add that with the current recession, and unemployment has been a big issue for many individuals.

As far as advantages go, there is a lot a Postindustrial economy can do to thrive. Generally, it is much cheaper and easier to host services than to create production. In other words, this is called the tertiary sector, which is primarily in charge of focusing on services. So if you live in an area where there are a lot of large businesses in the US or any other postindustrial nation, then chances are more likely that the area will be economically active with service jobs. Computers have also made communications instant as well, which does benefit the use for trading and advertising. Amazon is a good example for trading on the internet.

Unfortunately, we are too focused on the services, and that the US relies too heavily on manufacturers from other countries like China. In my opinion, we need more of those jobs here in the US so that we have our own manufacturing and more job openings. If that isn’t the case, we run into a greater risk of services not working due to lack of production. Many jobs in the primary and secondary sectors of the economy may eventually be completely replaced by machines/robots; however, there still remains the possibility that we will still have human laborers in the future anyways. 

Personally, I've experienced pros and cons of the Postindustrial economy. When it comes to needing literacy for working with computers and symbols, I am quite good at that. So at least the work matches my strength and knowledge. Although my concern is how many jobs can I choose with the computers taking over labor work? Or maybe even some of the service jobs? Will there be enough jobs for the US in the future? In the long term, I hope it stabilizes and that people don't find too much trouble while finding a job, and hopefully robots won't take half of our jobs within 20 years from now. A lot of thinking and careful planning will have to take place for the future of working.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/17/governments-warned-robots-may-take-half-our-jobs-in-20-years-so-prepare-for-revolution/

http://dmitriy.hubpages.com/hub/postindustrial