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C H A P T E R 4Work and Learning in the 21st CenturyNational ArchivesEunice Hunton Carter, born in 1899, was a trailblazer for expanded labor marketopportunities for women and minorities. She received bachelor’s and master’s degrees fromSmith College, went on to Fordham Law School, and ultimately became the first AfricanAmerican woman district attorney in New York. Special prosecutor Thomas E. Deweymade her one of his “twenty against the underworld” who investigated organized crime inthe late 1930s.The nature of work has changed dramatically over the past 100 years.Today, vastly fewer people work on farms, and women are much morelikely to be working for pay. Discrimination, which long limited theparticipation of minorities and women in the labor market, is now illegal andhas been greatly reduced. In addition, the educational attainment of ourlabor force has risen sharply. These changes have combined to produce themost diverse and highly educated work force in our country’s history. Thetools and techniques of work also changed dramatically over the 20thcentury. At the beginning of the 21st century this has meant a technologicalrevolution, which has affected the majority of jobs and put a premium on anew set of skills. This chapter examines the new labor market and the rolegovernment will play in preparing workers for the next century.129