Declining Careers

Unsurprisingly, the technological revolution has led to a downturn in a number of work areas. Declining careers include traditional printing jobs, such as typesetting, which have been largely replaced by electronic processes. Likewise, many secretarial posts have been lost to more general personal assistant or administrator roles. Work relating to fax machines, telephone and telex operations has also declined, as so many communication tasks are now fulfilled via the PC.

The opening up of the global marketplace has also brought about a decline in certain low-skill technology jobs that are now based overseas. These declining careers include programming, customer call centres, technical support and other services that can be provided by telephone or online workers. The same is occurring with data entry and straightforward accounting or banking jobs. Much work is going to countries such as India or Taiwan, where overheads and salaries are far lower.