January, 2008: The Job Market
I know the financial press has trouble saying this but the US is in recession . . . except in the skilled labor market. The slow down began with currency devaluation last year (the dollar dropping sharply against most currencies) and then fell off the table with the subprime mess in August.
As firms in many industries struggle to maintain the size of the operations or are reducing staff, people in skilled labor fields are finding no difficulty finding work.
There are more people working in information technology now than in the previous year and more than in any other time in US history. Firms tell me of shortages of engineers, accounting and audit professionals, health care workers and other skilled people.
Now the fun is that people who drive trucks are also in demand. you see, that is a skill that is also being sought.
To my eyes, in most areas salaries are not any higher than they were 10 or 15 years ago.
So where are the layoffs coming from that raised unemployment to 5%?
The "counter culture" (retail), manufacturing, office workers, real estate & residential construction (obviously) and people who support them. As I wrote in August in this blog, we have reached what I called "Game, Set and Match"--the end of the boom labor market for this part of the cycle and will probably start up again next year.
Why next year?
Simple.
Labor shortages.
You see, most companies cannot find enough labor because the Boomers are aging and the Facebook generation (Fooks) isn't interested (yet) in working hard or capable (yet) of stepping into their shoes.
But most importantly, there are a lot more Boomers and there are Fooks. So the shortages of actually bodies will keep most of America working but more working going offshore despite jingoist rhetoric.
Every generation gets profile the same way the Fooks are when they enter the job market--they don't know how to work, they are self-indulgent and want to make a lot of money with little effort.
Hmm. Sounds like most people I know but ageism makes the Fooks the low group on the totem pole and thus subject to criticism.
So, if you are an employer, you try to set up a groups on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn or develop your own social network for former workers so they think kindly of you and want to return to your staff.
You surf the job boards to find your current staff who are looking for work and, instead of doing the infantile thing of finding their replacement, sit with them and find out what's wrong and fix it.
You raise wage scales so that you are a magnet for new employees, instead of a target.
If you are a job hunter, you keep your skills at the highest level and your resume up-to-date so that if you are laid off, you are not writing it when you are experiencing a crisis. You network pro actively to make sure you know how to contact people when you need their help (and they need help).
The worst labor news will hit probably hit during the summer, prior to the election, and allow the candidates to demagogue about how the economy has been mismanaged by the Bush administration (it actually isn't; it has been mismanaged by Wall Street and, behind the scenes, they are doing a ton of things to rescue the financial system which will, eventually, pull things out).
They can't help you. The Fed can't help you.
Only you and your friends and colleagues can help you when that happens.
And I hope I'm wrong.
As firms in many industries struggle to maintain the size of the operations or are reducing staff, people in skilled labor fields are finding no difficulty finding work.
There are more people working in information technology now than in the previous year and more than in any other time in US history. Firms tell me of shortages of engineers, accounting and audit professionals, health care workers and other skilled people.
Now the fun is that people who drive trucks are also in demand. you see, that is a skill that is also being sought.
To my eyes, in most areas salaries are not any higher than they were 10 or 15 years ago.
So where are the layoffs coming from that raised unemployment to 5%?
The "counter culture" (retail), manufacturing, office workers, real estate & residential construction (obviously) and people who support them. As I wrote in August in this blog, we have reached what I called "Game, Set and Match"--the end of the boom labor market for this part of the cycle and will probably start up again next year.
Why next year?
Simple.
Labor shortages.
You see, most companies cannot find enough labor because the Boomers are aging and the Facebook generation (Fooks) isn't interested (yet) in working hard or capable (yet) of stepping into their shoes.
But most importantly, there are a lot more Boomers and there are Fooks. So the shortages of actually bodies will keep most of America working but more working going offshore despite jingoist rhetoric.
Every generation gets profile the same way the Fooks are when they enter the job market--they don't know how to work, they are self-indulgent and want to make a lot of money with little effort.
Hmm. Sounds like most people I know but ageism makes the Fooks the low group on the totem pole and thus subject to criticism.
So, if you are an employer, you try to set up a groups on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn or develop your own social network for former workers so they think kindly of you and want to return to your staff.
You surf the job boards to find your current staff who are looking for work and, instead of doing the infantile thing of finding their replacement, sit with them and find out what's wrong and fix it.
You raise wage scales so that you are a magnet for new employees, instead of a target.
If you are a job hunter, you keep your skills at the highest level and your resume up-to-date so that if you are laid off, you are not writing it when you are experiencing a crisis. You network pro actively to make sure you know how to contact people when you need their help (and they need help).
The worst labor news will hit probably hit during the summer, prior to the election, and allow the candidates to demagogue about how the economy has been mismanaged by the Bush administration (it actually isn't; it has been mismanaged by Wall Street and, behind the scenes, they are doing a ton of things to rescue the financial system which will, eventually, pull things out).
They can't help you. The Fed can't help you.
Only you and your friends and colleagues can help you when that happens.
And I hope I'm wrong.
Jeff Altman
The Big Game Hunter
Concepts in Staffing
thebiggamehunter@cisny.com
© 2008 all rights reserved.
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in many disciplines since 1971. He is a retired certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.
To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you, search for openings that The Big Game Hunter is working on, to use Jeff’s free job lead search engine, Job Search Universe, to subscribe to Jeff’s free job hunting ezine, “Head Hunt Your Next Job, or his staffing ezine, “Natural Selection”, or to learn about his VIP program, go to www.jeffaltman.com.
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Labels: ageism, Fooks, labor shortages, The facebook generation, The Job Market
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