Where the jobs are.

• Author: Cox, W. Michael
• Position: Analysis

Job jitters are vexing America. Not even the recent gains in employment have put an end to worries about the "outsourcing" of work to low-wage countries. Americans had become used to shedding factory jobs, but technology and service jobs were supposed to be secure.

So what will Americans do? Well, just like previous generations, they'll learn to do something different from what they've done in the past.

As existing jobs succumb to shifts in technology and trade, the economy will adjust, creating jobs that use new skills and talents. Over time, workers move up what we call a "hierarchy of human talents"--finding jobs that demand higher-order skills and offer better pay and conditions. In the past decade, the biggest gains came in jobs that rely on people skills and emotional intelligence (like nurse and lawyer) and imagination and creativity (like architect and photographer).

Trying to preserve existing jobs will prove futile. Americans will be better off if they strive to move up the hierarchy of human talents. That's where our future lies.

PEOPLE SKILLS AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE Jobs added, % increase, 1994-2004 1994-2004 FINANCIAL SERVICES SALES +248,000 78% REGISTERED NURSES +512,000 28% LAWYERS +182,000 24%...