@a> Millennium

Virtual realty, laser cechnology, fibre optic
communications, the information superhighway:
like generations before us we are faced with
technological advancement that will have an
impact on the way we live and work. For
centuries, people have been challenged by high-
tech innovations transforming their homes and
workplaces. Like dropping a pebble in a pond,
new technology creates a ripple effcct, starting
at one specific point but making waves that
roll into our lives.

The economy of the new millennium will likely be
the product of six major waves of recent years; waves
we are riding into che year 2000 and beyond.

ved

cay
i a

INFORMATION REVOLUTION

Information services now account for the most
significant economic growth as we move into
the next millennium. Each time the economy
changed in the past, so did people's lives. For
example, as people adapted to the massive shift
of the industrial revolution, chey moved from
fasming communities to factories in urban
centres, learning to use new machines and work
in conditions very different from their
previously agrarian lifestyles. The newest shift is
also affecting people's lives, requiring many of us
to fearn new technology, work from home, share
jobs, work on a contract basis or find other ways
to create our own employment.
HIGH-TECH INNOVATION |

Much of the change chat has occurred has been
fueled by technology. High-tech innovations
have enhanced some jobs and eradicated others.
Bur information technology has done something
else: it has enabled people. through phones,
modems, teleconferencing, systems, faxes and the
Internet, to change the ways they work and look
for work. People can work for a big corgpration
but remain in cheir home offices. Others can
ran their own business from a desk in their

apartment. Sdll others can collaborate with
collcagues across cawn or across the ocean.
“Technological change bas provided opportunides
for more creative working arrangements and
prompted us to become more flexible in the
strategies we bring to creating and doing our work,

GLOBAL VILLAGE

With free trade agreements, open borders and
telecommunications chat provide teal-time
interaction across the globe, more and more
companies are doing business on a world-wide
scale. In this globsl economy, the need for
cultural understanding among global villagers is
at a premium, and people who have both the
industry expertise and the cultural and language
skills to do business in the global marketplace
will be well positioned for the future.

GREENER BUSINESS

With shrinking resources and growing garbage
dumps, individuals, corporations and
governments have realized thas the practices that
have caused current environmental conditions
cannet continue if fucure generations are to
inherit the earth. "Environmentally Friendly”
has therefore become a key phrase of new

economy business. Ir makes environmental

sense for business to be clean and green.

POPULATION SHIFTS
Demographic changes, including
increasing numbers of older Canadians
and new Canadians, represent yet
another change in the economy. As
the population ages, a need
emerges for services for elderly
people, particularly in caring
professions where technology can
never replace the compassion of a
real person. Canada’s multi-cultural
make-up also opens opportunities
to provide services for ethnic
communities or new immigrants. It
means doing business in Canada
requires working with people from
all cultural backgrounds.

New WorkiNG PATTERNS
In the new millennium, the nine-to-
five, five-days-a-week job will likely be
uncommon. Employment will come in many
shapes and forms, with the majority of jobs
being in small business and self-employment.
‘ More people will begin to share jobs, others will
.‘juggle contract positions and some will leave che
traditional workplace altogether, setting up shop
in their homes or telecommuting to a “virtual”
office. For some, work will continue as usual but
may be enhanced by computers or other
technologies that make administrative work less
time-consuming and leave more time for human
interaction. For every one of us, finding or
keeping employment will require well-developed
skitls, creative thinking, initiative and an
understanding of both the new economy and
our own skills, abilities, talents, interests and
visions of the furuce.

just the Facts

* University degrees are becoming
increasingly common: In the 1960s,
one in 100 Canadians had a degree. In
1995/96, about one in 8 Canadians
have a degree. By the year 2005, it is
projected that one in 5 Canadians will
have a university degree.

Part-time employment is the fastest
growth segment of the job market,
accounting for a third of the net
expansion in the 1980s.

Short-term work (jobs of less chan six
months’ duration) are an the rise.

« Entrepreneurial ventures generate
about 80% of all new jobs in Canada.