I think you can be pretty confident that there will be lots of people valuing folks with small numbers of zeros on their paychecks in the future, because that will be most of us. To me, the greater challenge is valuing expert knowledge and skill *with* extra zeros. It seems to me of the least competent and least “valuable” people in the world are some of the most highly paid, and the current trend is simply accelerating this.

Businesses in North America define “low value” work (I.E.: stuff you pay very little for and don’t care where it is done) more and more widely. A few years ago, a computer programmer was a “high value” profession. So was an engineer, a computer designer, a project manager, or a materials scientist. In North America we have spent decades telling our young people that these kinds of professions were high value. Now, however, all of these professions are near-worthless “commodities”, outsourced to India and China.

This hasn’t been accompanied by a corresponding increase in the value of physical / hands on work: someone fixing a car is just as poorly paid as they were 30 years ago. However, at least those maintenance/construction/repair jobs still exist somewhere on the continent.

I kind of feel sad for the future. I’ve always thought one of the strengths we had in North America was that we created new and innovative things. People like engineers, scientists, physicists, and the like could be gainfully employed here, and make a good living. Not as great a living as the MBAs and lawyers, but not too shabby. That’s all going away, and there isn’t anything to replace it.

The thing that might correct this shift would be if wages and standard of living expectations in the BRIC nations catch up to North American levels. At that point, we would truly have a global economy: the “smart” people could be anywhere, and would cost about the same amount regardless of where they lived. This would end the advantage of moving ever-increasing amounts of “smart people” work off shore, and the balance would be restored.

Unfortunately, I don’t see this happening quickly enough. There will be at least one and possibly two generations of people in North America for whom pursuing a career in computing, engineering, or any physical design/materials sciences areas will be as much a bad choice as trying to make a living as a master of ancient greek philosophy.

I like working, albeit peripherally, with technology and science. But we have successfully made these “low value” endeavors, and I’m not very happy with what we have passively defined as “high value”: executives, lawyers, bankers, brokers, and consultants.