Ryan McVay/Digital Vision/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Technology brings convenience, entertainment, employment, and stands as an example of American innovation. “Technology advances have been really driven in our country. You see that in everything from Microsoft to Apple to many of the technology companies that are thriving today,” said ABC News financial contributor Mellody Hobson.
Gaming companies like Zynga, the makers of the popular online game Farmville, and daily deals websites such as Groupon and Living Social are also creating jobs. "While I think some have been very skeptical of technology and its effects on society in terms of job displacement, I think I'm more optimistic about technology's ability to be a job creator," Hobson said.
But some argue that American innovation is on the decline.
Among the skeptics is Economist magazine editor Greg Ip, who points to two events over the past year -- the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and the final flight of the space shuttle -- that he says raise questions about the United States’ stability as the number one country for innovation.
“I think people look at these events and wonder, ‘Whatever happened to American technological prowess? Why are we now renting space from the Russians if we want to go back into space? Who will be the next Steve Jobs?’” he said.
Apple, like many U.S.-based manufacturers, outsources work to cheaper overseas producers.
“For all the affection so many people have for Steve Jobs, this is a company that in many ways personified in a somewhat cheerful way the outsourcing of American manufacturing jobs,” Ip said, pointing to a label on the back of the company’s iPads, iPods and iPhones that reads ‘Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in China.’ “Outsourcing in some ways was wonderful for American consumers because it means we got the wonderful products of Steve Jobs’ imagination at a very low price, but it also meant that a lot of the benefits of that innovation didn’t go broadly to American workers.”
Ip suggests that employees -- even those looking for jobs -- keep their skills sharp, and says one way to boost living standards and competitiveness may be for companies to invest more into worker training.
Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio
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Joe Raedle/Getty Images(FORT WORTH, Texas) -- Soon after 2012 rolls around, shares of American Airlines will no longer be traded on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
