One of the main factors dictating elections all over the globe is the loss of current jobs. The thing many people think just isn’t true — illegal immigrants aren’t taking your jobs, your kids are.
A study done by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine found that illegal immigrants are not taking people’s jobs. In fact, the amount of United States citizens who do not finish high school have found they have a lighter workload due to the illegal immigrants, but not any more trouble finding work. In fact, the study found highly skilled immigrants versed well in technology have a positive impact on American society.
Unfortunately, those immigrants are easy targets of people's anger for the changing job market when it simply isn’t true. Work that has sustained generations of families is now nearly impossible to find, creating panic.
Harvard and Princeton researchers Lawrence Katz and Alan Krueger found jobs are changing to alternative jobs. In their studies, they found most of these new jobs are city based, and use only a few basic tools: a cell phone, an internet connection and a laptop. People can now do jobs anywhere and are expected to be connected at all times. Like never before people are being asked to be able to do a wide variety of tasks in their field. Compared to the previous generation where one's job was a narrow little description, jobs are now connected, full of surprises and new developments.
Younger people are stealing jobs by being better educated in technology. Picture a factory worker who has had that job for years, the same routine. Suddenly, the company can buy a machine that does the same task quicker for no wages, no sick or vacation days, along with no employee benefits. However, the question becomes who makes these machines and programs? Younger generations are making these machines, programming them and fixing them if they break. This is an example of the job turnover that isn’t obvious to see, jobs are evolving, not lost.
The younger generation is adapting and grew up in an age of rapid change. It knows technology and is the most educated generation so far. So if you want to know where the jobs are going, look no further to the generation below you.
Lauren Sheil is a freshman studying strategic communication at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. What do you think? Let Lauren know by tweeting her @laurensheil101.
