The ins and outs of keeping US service jobs at work

The purpose of this research is to discuss employment in the United States (US) service sector. The main concern is not pinpointing numerical estimates, but instead identifying trends which lead to job growth or job loss. Like manufacturing jobs that have been lost to offshore locations or productivity gains, so too are service jobs at risk. Offshoring - the outsourcing of business functions overseas - and automation have the same effect of displacing workers. What keeps a service job in the US and what makes it ideal to ship overseas or replace with a computer? Consumers have several choices between different product and service offerings. And, different products need varied levels of aftermarket service. What makes customers go out and spend money rather than completing tasks themselves? This thesis attacks these questions by outlining characteristics of products, services, and consumers which could help label jobs as "safe" or "at-risk." First is a discussion of these characteristics. Then, the range of product and service alternatives that consumers have to choose from is presented and applied to examples.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Gorney, Eric D

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Yossi Sheffi.

• Engineering Systems Division.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/34553

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/34553