Information Technology and Employment

[Professor S]

I was how everyone thinks advances in information technology will affect future employment rates? At the company I work for, we haven't laid anyone off, but as people have left we have consolidated positions and departments, reducing the size of the company from over 90 people to about 70 (maybe less) and we've actually adopted a work from home policy, reduced office space and productivity is up from where it was before and we have no plans of created new or replacing old positions. Overall, thats 20 jobs that are no longer available to those looking for work.

The reason I ask this is that with the current recession, a lot of businesses are streamlining and finding alternative methods to get the same amount of work done if not more, with less people using teleconferencing. When the recession ends, will these jobs come back, or will these companies maintain the efficiencies they've discovered?

Secondly, with how the landscape of careers have shifted in America over the last 20 years, is it necesarily a bad thing if they don't come back? Wll new opportunities be created in their stead as technology and business advance?