Massive shortage of knowledge workers.

There is and will continue to be a massive shortage of knowledge workers--those individuals whose main value is their ability to gather, analyze, and disseminate information--through the year 2000. "The blue-collar worker is being replaced at a record pace, by the knowledge worker," according to Jeffrey E. Christian, president and CEO of Christian & Timbers, the Cleveland-based executive search firm. "Knowledge workers are required to have a good deal more formal education and continuous learning than their predecessor, the blue-collar worker. With this rigorous educational requirement, there is a tremendous strain on the economy. Industry can not just replace blue-collar workers with knowledge workers overnight the way displaced farmers and domestic workers were able to move into industrial jobs. This is obviously putting a real strain on our educational system."

Christian & Timbers predicts that 20% of the...