A Guide to Sources for the Thinking Practice

This sidebar is a supplement to Our Current Problem an article from 2018 that served as the basis for a manuscript pending publication late 2024 as The Thinking Practice.

While studying creative problem-solving, decision-making, and the changing workplace, I relied on various articles and other experts to conclude how data skills were shifting. Here are links to my main sources, arranged by topic.

The looming recession and its possible causes

• One of the most recent articles — comprehensive and even-handed — was published in August, 2019, by Vox Media, entitled “Why everybody’s worried about a recession again .”
• For a more scholarly take — on the causes of recessions in general — see this story published in June, 2019, by the Congressional Research Service.
• With a hint of prescience, The New York Times reported the following in 2018: “What Will Cause the Next Recession? A Look at the 3 Most Likely Possibilities. “

Technology, automation, and jobs

• Fascinating research from Mark Muro and colleagues from the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Team on the rapid digitalization of jobs across the economy.
• Comprehensive research from McKinsey Global Institute on the prospective impact of automation on jobs by 2030.
• Analysis from the U.K. on the future of skills and employment by 2030 , conducted by ?Pearson, Nesta, and Oxford University’s Martin School.
• A yearlong report from New America and Bloomberg on the future of work in America.
• A report from the World Economic Forum on the future of jobs.
• An interesting ?Gallup/ Northeastern University poll of American attitudes on automation and the future of work.

Workforce training

• A research study with empirical analysis of trends in employer-paid training.
• Analysis from President Obama’s White House Council of Economic Advisors shows a decline in employer-provided training.
• An article on why the U.S. fails at worker training , with quotes from Anthony Carnevale, director of Georgetown University’s Center for Education and the Workforce .
• An interesting policy paper by Georgetown University professor, Harry Holzer, on how to improve the effectiveness of workforce training programs in the U.S.
• An article on the importance of lifelong learning
• More information on apprenticeship programs , like the Siemens USA example, from New America.

Employment and job trends

• Information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on average employee tenure.
• Excellent survey research from two prominent labor economists, Alan Krueger (Princeton) and Lawrence Katz (Harvard), analyzing the contingent workforce.
• An NPR/Marist poll f ound that 1 in 5 jobs are held by an American worker under contract.
• Analysis from Deloitte on the shrinking “half-life” of skills.
• Terrific report from the Economic Innovation Group on the “retreat of dynamism” showing how Americans are less likely to start a business, move or switch jobs.
• Findings from a poll conducted by EY and the Economic Innovation Group on millennial opinions on a range of economic issues.

Education

• Survey research from the Association of American Colleges and Universities polled employers and college students on preparedness for the workforce.
• A book called Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Northeastern University President Joseph E. Aoun.
• An article in Harvard Business Review on how to prepare young people for jobs in the AI economy.
• A NY Times opinion piece by Harvard behavioral economist, Sendhil Mullainathan, on preparing for upheaval and technological change.
• A TED talk from creativity expert Ken Robinson on how schools kill creativity.

Financial Insecurity

• A fascinating research project, called the Financial Diaries , tracked the household finances of ?235 low- and middle-income households over a year.
• A Federal Reserve report on the economic well-being of U.S. households.

Christine Haskell is the author of Driving Your Self-Reflection (2021), Driving Results Through Others (2021), Driving Data Projects: A Comprehensive Guide (2023), and The Thinking Practice: What craftspeople can teach us about problem-solving in the advent of AI (pending, 2024).

She teaches graduate courses in informatics at Washington State University’s Carson School of Business and as a visiting lecturer at the University of Washington’s iSchool.