Workplace Resources

New Economy

The way that Canadians are employed has changed dramatically in the last 15 years due to both workplace and economic transformation associated with widespread introduction and use of ICTs. This is referred to as the new economy. The new economy is characterized by dynamism, speed and constant innovation and has brought with it a culture based on flow of information (Atkinson, 2002). In the new economy the world is connected like never before and a person’s ability to be employed is often linked to how well that person is able to access information.

For disabled people, the new economy has brought with it both tremendous opportunity and further isolation. New technologies have been developed that either do or hold the potential of directly aiding people with disabilities in all aspects of their lives, including in the workplace. The other side of this is that for every technology produced by the new economy that enhances accessibility, others are produced that either are non-accessible or serve to make the environment more inaccessible (M. Solomon, 2000). No good documentation exists enumerating such changes, but the numbers appear to be large. Accessible technologies are often slower to emerge than mainstream technologies, are more expensive to purchase (for people who often have less money to purchase them) and are often outdated or incompatible by the time they become available. The consequence is that while disabled people have benefited from the new economy, this same economic order has also contributed to further isolation for many (G. Goggin, & Newell, C, 2003).

References

• Atkinson, R.D. (2002). The 2002 state new economy index. Benchmarking economic transformation in the States.
• Goggin, G., & Newell, C. (2003). Digital Disability. United States: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc.
• Solomon, M. (2000). Hiring the invisible workforce. Computerworld, August 7, 2000, 54.