This paper describes the new technologies most likely to affect the number and types of jobs in the U.S. economy over the next two decades. These work-affecting technologies are presented in the context of the continuing evolution of the U.S. work force into a distinctly new, third era. Chapter I discusses the transformation of the United States from an agrarian nation into an industrial one and the equally momentous transformation from an industrial nation into one variously described as a post-industrial, service, Third Wave, or knowledge-intensive economy. Chapter II describes the emerging technologies that both underlie the transition and promise to give the third era its distinct technological character. Focus of the chapter is on the information technologies, which are the most significant for the immediate future of work and employment in the emerging era and which include the devices, machines, and systems that generate, transmit, manipulate, and are controlled by means of the binary-represented data upon which computers operate. Sections of the chapter look at the information technologies from three perspectives: the computer itself as the paradigm of the information technologies, advanced research and development in computer-based technologies, and specific applications in the workplace. Appendixes include the diamond plot of occupation trends, Toffler's Third-Wave thesis, and lists of references and data sources. (YLB)