There's a mixture of enthusiasm and fear for what's happening. American jobs are becoming more interesting and complex, while supposedly rote tasks are moved offshore, or eliminated. At the same time workers are pushed by competitive pressures that leave little time or room for creativity and innovation.

Employers are seeking knowledge workers with higher levels of education. But these jobs are increasingly filled with foreign workers brought in on work visas - and American employees often train the lower-paid foreigners who take their jobs. So degreed people compete for fewer high-paying jobs and many end up working in service jobs at vastly reduced pay.

The latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the real wages and salaries of US civilian workers are below 5 years ago. There are persistent signs of a gloomier outlook. In 2006, US job satisfaction plummeted to a record low. Workplace demands have increased tremendously, especially as technology (email, cellphones, Internet) makes it ever harder to get away.

Two decades of rising incomes for educated workers have come to a halt. When adjusted for inflation, the real wages of US workers with at least a bachelor's degree are barely higher than they were in 2000, an unpleasant surprise in a world in which education is seen as the route to success.

Wage stagnation, combined with 60% rise in college tuitions since 2000, seems to discourage many young Americans from getting a college education. The next generation of young Americans may actually be less educated, creating a growing gap between the kinds of people companies need and the workers who are actually available.

As a result of these shifts, knowledge work is increasingly going offshore, where lots of upwardly-mobile knowledge workers are available to generate quick results.

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