Are you a knowledge worker?

To fully understand the problem of this skills gap in America we need to understand the changes in the nature of work over the last several decades. One of the major changes in the world of work has been the rise of the knowledge worker. They are the people who think for a living or have to be problem solvers applying increasingly advanced technologies.

Increasingly, over the decade’s jobs involving transactions such as exchanging information, and exchanging products and services have become the mainstay of the industrial economies of the world. Author Tom Davenport defines knowledge workers as workers that have high levels of expertise and education and the major purpose of their work involves the creation, distribution, and application of knowledge.

Today in the United States nearly 85 percent of work involves transactions, and the remaining 15 percent involves making things. Davenport and others estimate that knowledge workers in the United States comprise about 28 percent of workers in the United States. Other estimates run as high as 45 percent. Regardless of which estimate is correct, one thing is certain — knowledge workers are a very important part of our economy as they add great value to the economy.

 Businesses with a high percentage of knowledge workers form the fastest growing sectors of our economy and that trend will accelerate in the 21^st century. However, the increasing knowledge content of work is not only in an office or laboratory. In this age of computers and advanced technologies, construction, manufacturing and the organization and delivery of retail services are equally affected. All jobs require literacy and the ability to understand complex processes and utilize sophisticated tools and methods.

(This post was excerpted from Closing America’s Job Gap by Mary Walshok, Tapan Munroe and Henry DeVries.)

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[i] Davenport, Thomas, Thinking for a Living, (Harvard Business School Press, 2005).

[ii] ASTD report, p.5, op cit.