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CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 74 prise, having social ramifications, and that the innovation and management of complex technical systems involves consideration of social preferences and impacts as well as economic and political realities. Engineers should be trained to view their work in light of anticipated criticism on the basis of social impacts. In addition, the engineering professional societies can be instrumental in informing engineers on these matters and addressing broad political and social issues on behalf of the profession. CONCLUSION Both directly and indirectly, the federal government has become a dominant user of engineering goods and services. (Some 15 percent of engineers are employed directly, another 30 percent or more indirectly.) As a result, the panel is concerned about the relative balance in civil and government utilization of these goods and services, and its impact on the strength of the commercial infrastructure. It is also concerned about the ways in which this increasing "public sector" demand affects the structure, content, and orientation of engineering education. RECOMMENDATION Some mechanism and methodology should be devised for determining whether (and to what extent) necessary civil applications of engineering goods and services are being compromised through governmental competition. The shifting balance between the market context for engineering and the public context should be monitored by this means. When necessary, government should endeavor to restore a healthy balance through appropriate actions (for example, by improving R&D in support of elements of the commercial infrastructure). CONCLUSION The introduction of new techniques and technologies (including all those associated with automation) is likely to create considerable job displacement among workers in both the manufacturing and service sectors. These trends may then generate political and social pressures having strong implications for engineering, as was seen in connection with environmental issues during the 1970s. RECOMMENDATION The engineering profession should recognize the seriousness of this issue but should understand that it is also a management problem and a political problem. Mechanisms should be set up to monitor the employment impacts of automation and to identify the points at which political and technological intervention may be useful or necessary. This monitoring should comprise more than just the collection of statistical employment data. It should also include
