Human resources management in the 1990s

Abstract

Anthony Redwood is a professor of business and executive director of the Institute for Public Policy and Business Research, University of Kansas, Lawrence. Marcella Gonzalez provided research assistance for this paper. P ~ he predominant | feature of the . , I t . U.S. labor force in the 1970s and early 1980s was the surge of baby boomers and women into the labor market. These workers will be middle-aged by the year 2000, so the primary feature of the labor force at the turn of the century will be a bulge of 30to 50-yearold workers. There will be other important demographic changes as well (Table 1, and Figu re s 1 and 2): 1. The labor force will grow at only half the rate to which we are accustomed. 2. A smaller percentage of the labor force will be under 35 years of age. 3. The surge of women into the work force will continue unabated; three in five new workers will be women. 4. A larger proportion of new workers will be members of minority groups. 5. The education level of the work force will continue to rise, and most new jobs will require at least some postsecondary education. Human resources management in America, once defined in the context of an unlimited flow of adequately educated youth, will be profoundly affected by these demographic changes. Changes now under way in the economic environment and industrial structure will radically change the nature of work and further redefine the role of human resources management.