4.112 The Chairman of the Technology Foresight ITEC Panel emphasised
that there would be both positive and negative employment consequences
arising from the Information Society. On the positive side, "it
is a wonderful opportunity for business in the UK, small, medium
and large, to reach many new market places internationally, to
reach new kinds of consumers, to serve enterprises in other countries
and so on, so it is an excellent opportunity for knowledge workers,
for brain power, really just to get on with it. Access like that
is going to be very important, so the UK could become one of the
best places to have brain power businesses. That key question
of why do you not set up this particular piece of value adding
business activity in the UK rather than anywhere else is going
to be a central question for our Foresight Panel. I think it
is a central question for the UK economy and for UK politics.
... On the down side ... it is a wonderful way for businesses
in other countries to come and access domestic markets here and
supply them. It is a wonderful way for businesses here to out-source
functions to overseas suppliers. It is a great way to export
jobs." (Q 687)
4.113 CCTA, the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency,
quoted the current US administration's view that "information
is one of the nation's most critical economic resources. Estimates
are that two thirds of US workers are in information-related jobs
and the rest are in industries that rely heavily on information."
CCTA said that "it is not unreasonable to assume that this
estimate could apply to Britain. In which case the Information
Superhighway, which provides the means of accessing and transmitting
much of this information, becomes vital ... The Information Superhighway
is key to delivering electronic government that will soon operate
in ways that the most visionary planner could not have imagined
five years ago" (pp 176-177).
4.114 The IDPM said that information technology had led to the
"implosion" of corporate career structures (p 239) and
that this had had a major impact on employment. Job losses had
occurred in banking, administration and clerical sectors and there
was more to come: "The potential for many ITrelated jobs
to move offshore cannot be overstated. If the task can be adequately
specified ... an Indian Software house may already be able to
bid at 2025 per cent of the UK/US price for comparable quality"
(p 241).
4.115 Aspen Consultancy gave a graphic example of how the work
of a high tech distribution company could be replaced by electronic
means, thus negating the need for the company itself. The term
"marketspace" was coined to describe how jobs would
disappear down to a few crucial points (many of which could be
overseas) while the rest of the business was conducted electronically
(p 161).
4.116 In relation to employment prospects and problems, ICL said:
"It would assist the UK greatly if targeted awareness programmes
were addressed to the areas of greatest threat and opportunity."
ICL emphasised the potential of broadband technologies for assisting
teleworking, which it thought would "become an increasingly
real option for many people" (p 231).
4.117 The CBI also focused on the need for planning so that the
employment consequences of the Information Society in the United
Kingdom were managed in an orderly fashion. "There is large
potential for growth in employment in the Information Society,
albeit in new forms and types of employment for which education
and training will be required. At the same time in the UK there
is a threat to traditional sources of employment in manufacturing
and the production of material goods due to the newly developing
Asian economies based on their lower wage and social cost structures.
It is particularly important therefore to manage this change
to avoid social upheaval and the consequential cost. Government
policies, both economic and social, should take account of the
need for time to implement the considerable changes implied by
the development of the information society (p 195).
4.118 The Technology Foresight ITEC Panel emphasised the need for
large numbers of skilled information technicians. Furthermore,
"if this technology really is going to be pervasive in society
then most of our citizens will need to be literate in those sorts
of skills." (Q 687)
Teleworking
4.119 The BCS was among several witnesses[24] who stressed the potential
benefits of teleworking: "this can have enormous impact in
the need for expansion in the physical transport infrastructure
which is very expensive--much more so than the cost of a high
bandwidth communications infrastructure--and environmentally
damaging." The BCS recommended speeding up "the realisation
of this potential" by incentives for individuals to use a
part of their home for remote working and, "for people who
do not have the space, the provision of local telecommuting centres
removing the need for a long commute. Such centres could be a
regular feature of all suburbs and villages" (p 170).
4.120 The CBI said that there had already been considerable growth
in teleworking, which could accommodate both full-time and part-time
employment, allowed much more flexibility than traditional forms
of working and had the potential to help revitalise depopulated
communities. It warned, however, that the trend should not be
over-emphasised. "Many business tastes are unsuited to relative
remoteness from customers, suppliers or colleagues. Moreover,
many employees prefer to work in physical proximity to their colleagues"
(p 195). The ESRC said that the recent literature on changing
working practices suggested that various forms of teleworking
were unlikely to grow significantly in the absence of major and
widespread adjustments in lifestyles, support services, etc. (p
213).
4.121 IDPM distinguished between what it saw as the advantages
of "flexiworking", working from a home office linked
to the corporate systems but having regular physical meetings
with colleagues or customers and using company premises and facilities
for what could not be done economically from home, and "the
teleworking trap", where the individual did not regularly
communicate other than electronically or by post (p 240). The
Library and Information Commission said that there was "a
feeling in some quarters that teleworking is being promoted by
the telecommunications and IT industries, which stand to benefit
from equipment sales, but the economic benefits have not yet been
proved" (p 250).
