New York Times:Millions of workers who have already been unemployed for months, if not years, will most likely remain that way even as the overall job market continues to improve, economists say. The occupations they worked in, and the skills they currently possess, are never coming back in style. And the demand for new types of skills moves a lot more quickly than workers especially older and less mobile workers are able to retrain and gain those skills.Not to gloss over the misery this woman is going through, but I distinctly remember articles along these very same lines circa 1991-1992. (I'm too young to remember, but I bet there were similar articles in the early 1980s.) The industrial Midwest was dying. Southern California was dying. Billions were spent mopping up after the S&L crisis. Bill Clinton felt our pain. There was no hope for the unemployed.
The tough environment has been especially disorienting for older and more experienced workers like Cynthia Norton, 52, an unemployed administrative assistant in Jacksonville.
"I know I’m good at this," says Ms. Norton. "So how the hell did I end up here?"
Within just a few years we had the Mother of All Stock Market Bubbles and inexperienced code monkeys fresh out of high school were being hired by the gross for $80k. It was easy for anyone to get a job.
Maybe it is different this time. Maybe we are totally effed and there is no future. Or perhaps there are things coming down the pike that only a few of us can see right now that will lead to fat and happy times once again.
8 comments:
Somehow yes I do think this time is different.
You could be right. I hope not.
It is hard to know.
I was thinking about this when I was trying to decide if I wanted to by a Kindle or a Nook. Each use their own proprietary books, and there are others to consider.
Kinda like where we were years ago with beta max and VHS. You didnt know which one to buy or which one would last.
And look what happened. Who would have thought we would watch movies from CDs back then? Or just on demand from the cable provider?
So, perhaps there are things coming down the pike that only a few of us can see right now that will lead to fat and happy times once again
I think the North Koreans just perfected cold fusion.
Hahahahahahahaha
"The occupations they worked in, and the skills they currently possess, are never coming back in style."
And then they go on to talk about the administrative assistant who can't get a job? Since when did *that* job go out of style???
Lou, I cannot wait to hear your comments on the Texas Film Commission and "Machete".
W, I can't wait to see it.
Why this time is different than the early 1990s: the dumping of hundreds of millions of Chinese and Indians into the global workforce. Any excess demand for labor can be satisfied offshore now.
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