The New Rich-Rich Gap (Robert Reich)

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http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1212-20.htm

Published on Monday, December 12, 2005 by CommonDreams.org

The New Rich-Rich Gap
by Robert Reich

Almost 15 years ago, in "The Work of Nations," I described a three-tiered work force found in most advanced economies. At the bottom were workers who offer personal service, mainly in retail outlets, restaurants, hotels and hospitals. In the middle were production workers in factories or offices, performing simple, repetitive tasks. At the top were "symbolic analysts," like engineers or lawyers, who manipulate information to solve problems. Educated to think critically, almost all have university degrees. They were the knowledge workers of the new economy. ......


.........The top and bottom tiers are growing, and the middle shrinking, much faster than I expected. Symbolic analysts now make up more than a fifth of all jobs in advanced economies, up from about 15 percent 15 years ago. Their incomes in developing economies are soaring, relative to other workers'. In China, the wealthiest 5 percent now control half of all bank deposits. India's symbolic analysts are becoming a new national elite.

Two different groups of symbolic analysts are emerging: national and global. Most symbolic analysts still work within a national economy, manipulating various kinds of symbols with the aid of computers. They're at the core of their nations' middle class— accountants, engineers, lawyers, journalists and other university-trained professionals.

Yet a new group is emerging at the very top. They're CEOs and CFOs of global corporations, and partners and executives in global investment banks, law firms and consultancies. Unlike most national symbolic analysts, these global symbolic analysts conduct almost all their work in English, and share with one another an increasingly similar cosmopolitan culture. ...........