Monday, September 9, 2013

From 1995 to 2009 who Internationally is winning the "High Skilled Worker War" compared to the US? Looks like just about everyone. See the graphic here...

In the first days of introductory Economics we discuss the resources a society has available to combine to create goods and services that contribute to  a high standard of living.  I emphasize the phrase "Quantity and Quality" in regards to these resources.

One of the vital resources is "Labor".  Investment in "Human Capital" is vital to maintaining or moving to a high standard of living.

Here are a couple of graphics I combined from HERE that illustrate the change in High Skilled Employment in 13 countries (see more countries at the site) that results from investment in human capital.

The graphic on the left shows the number of people, in millions, engaged in high skilled labor in 1995.  The one on the right shows the number in 2009.  I calculated the percentage change for each country on the far right (the percentage change corresponds to the country listed on the right (2009).  China has increased the number of high skilled workers by 222%, the US by 34%, India by 92%, Brazil by 96% and so on...

Are we (the US) behind? About right? Or OK?  What am I leaving out in looking at these numbers that might mitigate (lessen) the impact of seemingly slow growth in the number of high skilled workers in the US?


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