????Can this downward, disturbing trend be changed? I believe it can, if we start work now on building a consensus strategy for the future.

????Education is still the starting point -- a necessary but far from sufficient solution today. The good news is there appear to be a growing consensus and considerable momentum in the country to expand access to early childhood education and to reform elementary and secondary schools. For today's young workers to compete on a global stage, all the rhetoric about "life-long learning" will need to become a reality. We have the tools to do this now. Every U.S. university and community college is experimenting with "online" or distant courses. And many employers complain that new entrants don't have the right mix of skills.

????The obvious solution is for university, community college, and industry leaders to get together and design the coursework and the on-the-job experiences young workers need to be productive, learn, grow, and gain access to better and higher paying jobs.

????But education alone will not solve sluggish job creation or wage stagnation.

????In my upcoming columns, I'll raise other ideas and proposals, such as moving off the fixation with short-term shareholder value as the sole purpose of the firm, the need to invent new "next-generation" labor organizations, and ways to update employment policies to catch up with the changing economy and labor force. Some will be controversial, and I will invite your comments, ideas, and engagement as we go along. Together, we might just find common ground on a Social Contract that works for the next generation as effectively as the old one worked for mine.

????Thomas A. Kochan is a professor of industrial relations, work, and employment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management. He is author of the book,Restoring the American Dream: A Working Families' Agenda for America.