Symbolic-Analytic Work

In addition to participating in (if not causing) changes in work-place structures and international economies, information technology provides the backdrop for a new class of service work, one inherently rooted in information space. Symbolic-analytic work, a new classification proposed by U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich, involves working within and across information spaces. Such workers are highly skilled in information manipulation and abstraction, critical and much sought-after skills in an age where information overtakes industry in terms of social and economic value. (Johnson-Eilola, 1996a, p. 235)