Abstract At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, a country's comparative advantage depended largely on the natural resources it was blessed with. The raw materials of the new economy ‐ information, education and knowledge‐‐will be of a nation's own making. This translates into the development of a strong educational sector, prepared to deliver these raw materials. The future is definitely less bright for jobs on the factory floor. And if so‐called manufacturing jobs arc created it is mainly for managers and administration. The reason for this is the move away from standardized production and toward more flexible, customized manufacturing in western Europe. A shift from blue collar to white collar jobs is observed everywhere and can be observed in Hungary as well. Growing sophistication of the technology used demands increasing numbers of managers, but also technicians and middle management staff. This also translates to broader job content which demands more general vocational education in order to cope with this requirement. Some of these future employees will be graduating from the secondary vocational schools under revision at the moment.