Ninety Years in the World of Work in America.

Parsons's tripartite model suggests that gaining information about the world of work is a critical factor in vocational decision making. This article compares and contrasts data from around 1909, when F. Parsons's Choosing a Vacation was published, with contemporary data on the workplace and the American worker. Data on other contextual factors, such as demographic trends, are also presented. There are surprising similarities between Parsons's time and the present, and also obvious differences. The author suggests that having information about occupations is still an essential component of career counseling, and ideas are presented for updating knowledge about the increasingly complex world of work.

Imagine that the year is 1909. Ping-pong, imported from China, is the latest fad. "The pinging of the ball against the racquet's hide / is answered by the ponging when it hits the other side. Where are you going, my pretty maid? / I'm going a ping-ponging, my sir, she said" (Panati, 1991, p. 54, as cited in the Denver Post and the Boston Post). In 1909, the favorite book of the average American was the Bible, followed by the Sears-Roebuck catalog. The most popular songs were, "Shine on Harvest Moon," and "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." The newest dances were called the "bunny hug," the "horse trot," the "camel walk," the "buzzard lope," the "chicken scratch," and the "kangaroo dip." In addition to these animal passions, the country was mad for the Teddy Bear, named affectionately for the President who refused to shoot a bear cub. (Question: "If Theodore Roosevelt is President with his clothes on, what is he with his clothes off? Answer: Teddy Bare." Panati, 1991, p. 56).

In the first decade of the twentieth century, chicken cost $.07 per pound, and a woman's corset cost $.40 (Panati, 1991). Among the labor saving devices people take for granted today, only three were available--the cooking range, the washing machine, and the vacuum cleaner (Thompkins, 1996). Smallpox and gastritis were major causes of death, along with catastrophic rates of infant and maternal mortality (Bureau of the Census, 1961; Shifflett, 1966). A public school teacher earned about $325 per year--even less if the teacher was a woman. There were 1,000 optometrists in the United States, and there were no occupational classifications for auto mechanics or social scientists. Although it is hard to imagine, in 1909 every American over the age of 45 had been alive during the Civil War (Panati, 1991).

It was during this earlier time, in 1908, that Frank Parsons opened the Vocations Bureau in Boston. Parsons's (1909) original work, Choosing a Vocation, stated "a vocational counselor should familiarize himself [sic] in a high degree with industrial knowledge" (p. 46). This included "lists and classifications of industries and vocations, the conditions of success in the various vocations, and general information about industries" (p. 46). Parsons's advice is surprisingly contemporary. Now, as then, it is important for career counselors to have a solid understanding of the world of work (Drummond & Ryan, 1995; McDaniels & Gysbers, 1992).

This article reviews some of the similarities between Parsons's time and the present day and, not unexpectedly, some major differences. When data are not available for the time around 1909, other comparative data are used. The article concludes with suggestions for how contemporary counselors can gain more knowledge about the increasingly complex working world and, in turn, offer more helpful skills and perspectives to their clients.

Overview of Century of Change

The latter half of the twentieth century was a time of tumultuous and confusing change for the entire world. Many Americans, however, have lost sight of the profound growing pains that the nation experienced in the first decade of the twentieth century. It was a time of great contrasts. The car, the airplane, and the subway were invented, yet child labor was legal, and women were not allowed to vote. Technology and machines were making work less drudged and difficult, yet giant, airless factories provided deplorable working conditions. It was a time that ushered in industrialization, urbanization, and immigration-three factors that would shape the world of work in America for the rest of the century. Surprisingly, perhaps, it was also a time that witnessed the first stirrings of modern globalization (Friedman, 2000). The next section of this article highlights some of the demographic and social changes that have occurred in this country in the past 100 years.

Demographic Changes

Since Parsons's time, the U.S. population has almost tripled, from 92 million in 1910 to 270 million in 1998 (Bureau of the Census, 1961; Primedia Reference Inc., 1998). By the year 2050, the population is expected to quadruple and reach 394 million (Molitor, 1998). In 1910, there were 31 persons per square mile of U.S. land (Shifflett, 1966). This is projected to increase to 131 persons per square mile by 2050 (Molitor, 1998). The population also changed from rural to urban dwellers. In 1910, 60% of the population lived in rural areas, and 40% lived in urban areas. In 1998, those figures were 25% and 75%, respectively (Bureau f the Census, 1961; Primedia, 1998).

People have moved west. In 1900, the most populous states were: New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, and Missouri (Bowen, 1969). Ninety years later, only two states-New York and Illinois--were still among the most populous, joined by California, Texas, and Florida (Primedia, 1998). In fact, with the exception of Georgia, the fastest growing states in the United States are western or southwestern. Nevada is the fastest growing state, with a projected 27% increase in population from 1990-2000 (Bureau of the Census, 1996). By the year 2050, it is estimated that 3 out of 10 Americans will live in California, Texas, and Florida (Adler, 1998).

The U.S. population is also aging. In 1910, the median age was 24; in 1998, it was 35. By 2050, it is expected to be 38 (Molitor, 1998; Primedia, 1998). The population is aging, in part, because people are living longer. In 1910, the average life expectancy for Whites was 50 years; for Blacks and other races, it was only 36 years. In contrast, in 1997 VVhites had a life expectancy of 77, and Blacks and other races had a life expectancy of 73 (Bureau of the Census, 1961; Primedia, 1998).

People in the U.S. are marrying later than they did a century ago; this is particularly so for women. In 1910, the median age at first marriage for women was 22; today it is 25. People are also having fewer children. In 1997, the U.S. birthrate was one half of what it was in 1910 (32 births per 1,000 people in 1910 vs. 15 in 1997). Consequently, people live in smaller households today, down from an average of 4.5 persons per household in 1910 to about 2.6 in 1997 (Bureau of the Census, 1961; Primedia, 1998).

Immigration and Racial or Ethnic Changes

The first decade of the twentieth century brought the largest number of immigrants ever into the United States--almost 9 million (Bureau of the Census, 1961). By 1910, one of every seven Americans had been born abroad (Thompkins, 1996). Although earlier immigrants to the United States had predominantly come from western and northern Europe, this wave came mostly from southern and eastern Europe--Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Russia (Shifflett, 1966). The changing demographic and cultural origin of immigrants would bring profound discrimination and poverty to many of them. Most of these immigrants were already poor when they arrived, and 29% did not have occupations. Of the rest, most were laborers of various sorts, and 1% were farmers, 1% were professionals, and less than 1% were service workers (Bureau of the Census, 1961).

In a parallel to the beginning of the twentieth century, the period between 1980 and 1990 saw the second largest wave of immigration, a little over 7 million people, in U.S. history (Kurian, 1994). In contrast to the first wave, most contemporary immigrants were (and continue to be) from Latin and Asian countries such as Mexico, Philippines, China, Cuba, Vietnam, India, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Korea (Primedia, 1998).

Consequently, the racial and ethnic composition of the United States has changed with changing patterns of immigrants. In 1910, 89% of the population was White, and 11% was Black. American Indian/Alaskan Natives and Asian/Pacific Islanders each made up less than 1% of the population (Bureau of the Census, 1961).

In 1998, the U.S. population was 71% White (expected to shrink to 51% by 2050), 13% Black, 11% Hispanic origin (this statistic does not consider "Hispanic peoples" to be White), 4% Asian/Pacific Islander, and 1% American Indian/Alaskan Native. By 2050, it is estimated that American minorities (including those of Hispanic origin) will constitute 49% of the U.S. population (Molitor, 1998; Primedia, 1998).

Education

In 1900, most children attended school for only a few years. Most of the nation's schools (66%) were rural, one-room schoolhouses. The teachers often had little education and were forced to teach students, who might range from 5 to 17 years of age, in a single classroom. In 1909, only 8% of the labor force had at least a high school diploma (Bureau of the Census, 1961). Today, that number is 90% (Primedia, 1998).

Only a few Americans went to college at the turn of the century. Today, about 25% of the population has completed a 4-year degree. Since the early 1980s, more women complete college than do men (Primedia, 1998).

The World of Work

Gender Distribution of the Workforce

About 25% of adult women worked in the occupational structure in 1900, and approximately 20% of the total labor force was female. However, in addition to taking care of their homes and large families, many poor women at the turn of the century also worked outside of the occupational structure, taking in laundry and doing other sorts of physical labor for more affluent families (Bureau of the Census, 1961; Thompkins, 1996).

The workforce was more segregated by gender in 1909 than it is today. Men held most of the professional jobs (e.g., medicine, engineering, law) and worked in other high paid areas such as in transportation and skilled trades. Women, in contrast, were concentrated into low-wage/low-prestige occupations such as agricultural labor, teaching, domestic service, waiting tables, and child care. Women who worked in industry were paid less than men were for the same jobs (Shifflett, 1966; Thompkins, 1996).

As the economy expanded with the rise of industrialism, new work opportunities opened up for middle-class White men. For example, in the 1800s, the census recorded only the occupation of "clerk." By the turn of the century, this was expanded to include "bookkeeper, accountant, sales clerk, stenographer ... and telegraph operator" (Shifflett, 1966, p. 64). The "typewriter" (typist), one of these new types of clerks (using a new invention), helped ease women into the formerly male-only, white-collar office. Although the original typewriters (and stenographers) were predominantly men, by 1930,92% of them were women (Shifflett, 1966).

Other occupations outside of farming and manufacturing were also on the rise. For example, professional nurses increased in number by more than 500% between 1900 and 1910. Many of the new occupations required more education, and by 1900, 31 states had passed compulsory school attendance laws (Shifflett, 1966).

Today, American workers are increasingly women. In 1990, they constituted 45% of the labor force. Increasingly, married women with children work outside the home. In 1960, 19% of married women with school-aged children were in the labor market. In 1990, that figure was 71% (Bureau of the Census, 1961; Primedia, 1998).

Wages and Hours

Wages varied widely in the 1900s, and, like today, there was a wide gap between the richest and the poorest Americans. A male manufacturing worker in 1900 could earn between $5.00 and $8.00 per week, depending on skill. A female textile worker would earn less, perhaps as little as $2.00 per week. In 1910, some of the highest paid industrial workers were clerks in manufacturing and steam railroads (average wage of $1,156 per year). The lowest paid were farm laborers (average wage of around $300 per year; Shifflett, 1966).

Across all occupations, the average annual family income in the United States in 1900 was $800 (this includes any income generated by child labor). Unskilled workers faced particular hardships with their low wages because their incomes simply would not support their families, even if they worked 12 hours per day, every day of the year. This was one of the reasons that poor families had many children--child labor was seen as a way to help make ends meet (Shifflett, 1966; Thompkins, 1996).

As happens today, workers were displaced by technology a century ago, and employers did not hesitate to slash wages or lay off workers when this happened. New immigrants often took jobs with the lowest pay, thus displacing nonimmigrants in lean economic times. Obviously, this added to social unrest and prejudice (Thompkins, 1996). The contemporary parallel is the multinational corporation, which moves the factory wherever in the world the wages are lowest (cf. Whitman, 1999).

The average workweek in 1900 varied by industry, but most laborers worked 10-hour days, 6 days per week. It is interesting that in 1905, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that limiting working hours, as New York had tried to do, was unconstitutional. However, in 1908, the Court reversed its stance for female employees, stating that they needed extra protection under the law due to their fragility and their biological role of childbearing (Thompkins, 1996).

Child Labor

Children were the most exploited workers at the turn of the century. Child labor was legal in 1900, and more than 250,000 children under the age of 15 worked in factories. Children's capacity for helping to stretch family income, especially among the very poor, led to widespread acceptance of their work on farms, in coal mines, and doing piecework. In 1900, however, 28 states had some child-labor legislation) and by 1908, the first national child-labor law was passed (Shifflett, 1966; Thompkins, 1996).

Labor Unions and Reform

The labor union movement began with the Industrial Revolution of the mid-nineteenth century, and it was a formidable entity by the early 1900s (Shifflett, 1966). Unlike today, however, labor unions were not legal, and female workers and unskilled laborers were not welcome. Union wages were about 65% higher than nonunion wages; union pay averaged $.34 per hour versus $.15 per hour for nonunion pay (Thompkins, 1996).

Unions proliferated, partly because of unsafe working conditions. The United States had more industrial accidents than any other industrialized country at the turn of the century, killing 35,000 workers and maiming 500,000 others every year. This led to frequent incidents of labor unrest, including long and deadly strikes. Despite the growing activism of unions, however, most workers in the early 1900s were nonunionized. Legislation was eventually passed between 1900 and 1910 that included such reforms as minimum wage, maximum working hours for women, and worker's compensation (Shifflett, 1966; Thompkins, 1996).

In general, unions are less important to most workers today. In 1955, approximately one third of the American labor force was unionized; by 1995, that number had dropped to 16%. The decline in U.S. unionization coincided with the decline in U.S. manufacturing and the increase in global competition (Whitman, 1999).

Unemployment

The only major economic depression of the first decade of the twentieth century occurred in 1907 and lasted about 1 year, and its impact is evident in unemployment rates of the time. In 1906, the U.S. unemployment rate was 1.7%; in 1908, it was 8% (Bureau of the Census, 1961). For most of the rest of the decade, however, it was "nominal," defined by economists as between 4% and 6% (Shifflett, 1966). The unemployment rate today is also nominal, about 4.5% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2001b).

The costs of unemployment have always been significant. In Parsons's day, when there were no social safety nets such as unemployment insurance, Medicaid, welfare, and food stamps, the loss of income from a major family breadwinner could be catastrophic. However, unemployment tended to be shorter lived. Ironically, the new world economy has produced more permanent, as opposed to temporary, layoffs, with 25% of today's displaced workers in the United States remaining unemployed for a year or more (Whitman, 1999).

From Farmer to Laborer to Clerk

The industrial revolution of the mid-nineteenth century had already begun to erode farming as an occupation by 1900. At the turn of the century, 38% of Americans worked in farm occupations; by 1960, that number had shrunk to 6%, and by 1996, less than 1% of U.S. workers were farmers (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1999; Primedia, 1998). By the beginning of the twentieth century, the United States was considered a major industrial nation (Thompkins, 1996). Manufacturing jobs, however, have also shrunk from 27% of the labor market in 1920 to 13% in 1998, and this percentage is expected to decrease even more by 2008 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2001a; Primedia, 1998). By the late twentieth century, the largest industries were neither agriculture nor manufacturing-they were the service-producing industries, including transportation, wholesale and retail trade, finance, insurance, real estate, general services, and government. In 1998, these industries accounted for about 71% of jobs in the United States (Bureau of L abor Statistics, 2001a). In other words, the United States experienced an economic revolution in the late twentieth century as profound as the Industrial Revolution, of the nineteenth century.

Largest Employers

The birth of the giant corporation happened around the turn of the century. For example, from 1899 to 1909, the number of manufacturing businesses dropped by 50%, but the number of manufacturing workers increased. Some of the largest corporations in 1909 America are recognizable: U.S. Steel, Standard Oil, International Harvester, for example. Others are less so: Pullman Company and Central Leather (Bowen, 1969).

Of the top 10 in 1997, 4 were founded between 1902 and 1908: Ford, General Motors, Philip Morris, and Texaco (Primedia, 1998). The 1997 list, however, is already out of date. For example, one third of the Fortune 500 companies that existed in 1980 no longer existed (as independent corporations) in 1990, and one third of the 1990 Fortune 500 have been targeted for hostile takeovers (Whitman, 1999). It is a part of the everyday vocabulary to speak today of mergers, acquisitions, and takeovers--hostile or otherwise--and it is accepted with relative equanimity that the list of largest U.S. corporations may change from year to year.

Summary

Clearly, the Industrial Revolution had already begun to change the world of work when Parsons's (1909) model was first published. Perhaps this is why Parsons urged the reader to obtain "up-to-date" information about the world of work, "the kind that is found in current magazines and papers rather than books" (p. 46). This advice is still timely. The next section focuses on the modern world of work and the factors that make it radically different than it was a century ago.

The New World Economy

Although change was increasingly a part of life in Parsons's day, it was not the type of change experienced today. The world experienced a similar era of globalization from the mid-1800s to the latter 1920s, but it was based on falling transportation costs due to the invention of the railroad, steamship, and automobile. The world at that time was also dominated politically by Great Britain--the United States did not emerge as a world power until after World War I. Still, this period, in the words of Thomas Friedman, "shrank the world from a size large to a size medium" (Friedman, 2000, p. xvii).

Today, the world is a size "small." The world of work today is a product of four forces that have revolutionized the way businesses and nation states operate: globalization of goods and services, the collapse of communist states and the rise of American-style capitalism, domestic deregulation, and technological advances, particularly in information and telecommunications (Whitman, 1999). These four factors helped to shape the current American economy with its focus on providing information and services to the world. (For in-depth discussions of these factors, see Friedman, 2000; Naisbitt, 1984; Offerman & Gowing, 1990; Rifkin, 1995; Whitman, 1999.) Two of these factors, globalization and technology, are briefly illustrated in the next section. Changes in globalization and technology have, in turn, affected where and what kinds of jobs are available to workers; they have also contributed to a quality of instability in businesses. These additional factors are also discussed briefly as follows.

Globalization

Since 1970, there has been a rapid rise in international trade. For example, merchandise exports in the United States (as a share of tradable goods production) rose from 11% in 1960 to more than 31% in 1990 (Whitman, 1999). The globalization that occurred during Parsons's day was large, relative to its time, but it was miniscule compared with today's. In 1900, daily foreign exchange trading was measured in millions of dollars. In the early 1990s, it was measured in billions, and today it is measured in trillions of dollars per day, and rising (Friedman, 2000).

Unlike in Parsons's day, today's globalization is built around falling telecommunications costs (e.g., computers, webs, microchips, fiber optics, satellites, the Internet). The profound outcome of this is that economies today can globalize services as well as goods. For example, Swissair moved its accounting division to India, where wages were cheaper. AOL's customer service center, which takes 12,000 calls per day from mostly U.S. customers, is in Manila (Friedman, 2000).

Globalization has produced enormous multinational corporations, some with yearly profits that exceed the gross national product of some countries and have the power to create and destroy local economies. Modern technology "erodes the borders and therefore the regulatory powers of the nation-state" (Whitman, 1999, p.22). In other words, technology and the rise of open markets provide the potential for corporations to stand toe to toe in political and economic power with nations. Social cultures, national security, and the environment are also enormously affected by globalization, to the extent that traditional boundaries no longer exist between these entities. "This new system of globalization-in which walls between countries, markets, and disciplines are increasingly being blown away- constitutes a fundamentally new state of affairs" (Friedman, 2000, p. 23).

Where the Jobs Are

One interesting parallel between the first and last decades of the twentieth century is the large economic gulf between the rich and the poor in America (Shifflett, 1966; Thompkins, 1996; Whitman, 1999). In 1900, it was industrialization, but today it is the Information Age that has created economies with high tops and low bottoms. At the top today are the corporate giants (e.g., Ford, IBM, Wal-Mart). They are relatively small in number-they make up less than 1% of all corporations-but they own over 70% of total corporate assets (Offermann & Gowing, 1990). At the bottom are the contingency workers without employee benefits and the minimum-wage, service-industry employees.

If career counselors' students and clients want entry-level jobs, their best bet is to look for work at the "bottom"-as a retail salesperson, cashier, truck driver, or clerk. These categories make up four out of the six occupations with the projected largest job growth through the year 2008 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2000b). The cashiers, clerks, and salespersons (the most plentiful jobs) will have the best chances for employment at McDonalds, Burger King, Bresler's Ice Cream, 7-11, and DariKing, the fastest growing franchises in the United States (Primedia, 1998). Career counselors' more qualified clients might hold out for a position as "system analyst" or "general manager or top executive," which round out the list of six top occupations (Bureau of Labor statistics, 2000b). However, it is perhaps more likely that students can move up the corporate ladder by accepting positions supervising cashiers, waitpersons, or clerks. The "fastest growing occupations," however, exist only in high technology and medic al industries (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2000a).

Instability in Businesses

The mergers and acquisitions that built the multinational corporate giants and franchises discussed earlier became commonplace in the 1980s and continue today. In addition, new businesses have experienced soaring increases since 1970, but many of these businesses are short-lived or are soon acquired by larger entities. Both of these trends underscore the instability in the workplace in America today, because each merger or acquisition typically results in a restructuring and "shakedown" in management. "Downsizing" and "outsourcing" are now common actions whereby upper management attempts to minimize cost and maximize profits, but they typically result in increased stress for workers who are left wondering, "Am I the next to go?" (Gowing, Kraft, & Quick, 1997). It is not surprising, then, that the average American stays on the same job for fewer than 4 years (Kurian, 1994).

Technological Revolution

There were almost 100,000 patents issued in the United States in 1990 (Kurian, 1994); technology today changes the world practically overnight. The Internet, in particular, has changed the world of work in every service industry, including retail sales, finance and banking, education, and health care. The impact of the Internet cannot be overstated. It began in 1969, but until Congress passed legislation in 1991, it was not available to most people. The World Wide Web became available in 1992, and by 1998, 6 short years later, 70% of public schools had Internet access (Primedia, 1998).

It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million listeners; it took only 4 years for 50 million people to be connected to the Internet. Today, traffic on the Internet doubles every 100 days (Primedia, 1998). What future impact will this have on the labor market and the global economy? Unfortunately, the technology changes so rapidly that professional predictors (such as futurists) have no precedents on which to rely. A safe prediction is that rapid and unpredictable change will be the norm for the foreseeable future.

Implications for Counselors

It is perhaps useful to know that some of the forces shaping the modern world of work, such as massive immigration, industrial or technological revolution, and advances in transportation or communication actually started in Frank Parsons's day. In Parsons's (1909) original book, more than 25% of its contents were dedicated to a discussion of the world of work. Today, few textbooks or other counseling resources devote themselves to discussing the global world of work to the degree that Frank Parsons did, but contemporary researchers and practitioners still value the importance of knowledge of the world of work. For example, Isaacson and Brown (1993) stated, "Both helper and client need information about the present and future structure of the world-of-work as well as about likely change in the near and distant future" (p. 113). Understanding the world of work today is more challenging than it was in Parson's time because it is so much more complex. The following are five implications of these changes for couns elors, counselor educators, and counseling psychologists:

1. As practitioners and researchers, counselors need to better understand the forces that change the world of work. Contemporizing their knowledge requires that they incorporate information from other fields, such as macro-and microeconomics, sociology, contemporary political science, history, and ecology into scholarship and practice. Resources that summarize contemporary "mega-trends" are most helpful for practitioners in the field (cf. Friedman, 2000; Gowing, Craft, & Quick, 1997; Whitman, 1999).

2. Textbooks and other sources of information for graduate students should devote more attention to their chapters on the changing world of work as well as contextual or sociological perspectives on work. In addition to textbooks, however, students and practitioners should be regularly reading publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and U.S. News and World Report. These types of business-oriented publications can be relied on to provide up-to-date, timely information about the economy, new technologies that affect work, "hot" new industries, and other trends, thus making career practitioners better informed.

3. Junior and senior high school counselors and college career counselors should actively support students' use of the Internet for learning more about the world of work. Sites such as those sponsored by the U.S. government provide reliable statistics about work, workers, occupations in demand and in decline, and so on. In addition, students at this level can be exposed to some of the more complex issues associated with globalization, such as worldwide consumerism and its impact on the economy, globalization of capitalism, and the homogenization of culture.

4. Elementary school counselors can help children begin to understand new issues such as "What is a job?" "Who is a worker?" "What and where is a workplace?" "How is it different (or the same) than some other place, such as home?" Elementary children can be encouraged to keep many possibilities for work in mind by exposing them to nontraditional workers (e.g., by age, gender, or race) who work in nontraditional jobs (e.g., male receptionists or female baggage handlers) and who work in nontraditional places (e.g., at home or by "telecommuting").

5. Counselors who work with young adult and adult clients might help their clients deal with the reality that the norm for the future worker will be a nonlinear, nonsingular, nontraditional, and possibly nonsecure career path. In other words, counselors need to help normalize "change" for their clients. If this information is communicated to clients early, it can increase the fit between their career implementation steps (e.g., looking for work) and their career outcomes (e.g., finding something acceptable), as well as decrease their sense of failure when the "perfect," traditional career path does not readily materialize.

6. Counselors who work with workers and potential workers at all levels can focus their students and clients on acquiring attributes that are the most likely to help their students and clients weather the vicissitudes of the world of work: high technical knowledge, broad-based experience, and a high level of social skills. These are the workers who are most likely to survive downsizing and to be valued and promoted during turbulent times (Goleman, 1998; Sonnentag, 1995).

7. Corporations do not make long-term commitments to their employees, so clients should be cautioned against making an emotional commitment to their employers. Instead, clients can be encouraged to see each job as an opportunity to gain knowledge, experience, and social skills, while also remaining on the lookout for new positions that might provide more opportunities or a higher quality of life (Pollan & Levine, 1997).

Summary

Ironically, it is possible that knowledge of the world of work today is even more important than it was when Frank Parsons developed his model. The best way for counselors to optimize their clients' coping skills for the future is to educate them about the realities of the world in which they hope to be successful.

This article has compared and contrasted information about the world of work in the first decade of the twentieth century with the last decade of the century, with the aim of providing an informational starting point for counselors who wish to update their knowledge of contemporary aspects of work. The implications of these data for counselors are that although the world of work is still responding to some trends initiated a century ago (such as globalization, immigration, equity concerns, technological advances), there are also exponential changes, and the world of work is not the same as it was even a decade ago. It is essential that career practitioners in all their varied work environments help clients understand this and prepare for the unpredictable--the twenty-first century of work.

Camille DeBell is an assistant professor in the School of Applied Health and Educational Psychology at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater. The author thanks Marilyn Montgomery, Nadya Fouad, and Kathy Kellum for their assistance. Correspondence regarding this article should he sent to Camille DeBell, School of Applied Health and Educational Psychology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078.

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