The article suggests a lack of labor hording in this recession , over aggressive reductions or a general pessimistic view of future economic growth may be the cause. I think the cause is two fold. First, we have substituted information technology for people in new ways. One example is the plethora of self-service options from airport check-in to online banking and bill pay. The second factor is the fluidity of the workforce. We know that many younger and some older individuals don’t have a desire for long term employment commitments, or at least don’t require one, so the workforce becomes effectively reconfigurable based on need. Why hire and retain people when most of the job reductions can be done by the transitory part of the workforce? If you need people, call Kelly or Manpower and they will fill the slot quickly. This suggests the need for skills maintenance is being pushed to individuals or agencies, and away from hiring firms, thus further reducing costs and need for non-core competencies like training.
These shifts require a new models of measurement, and new economic theories. We are going headlong into a fundamental economic shift and we will find the road rather bumpy because we don’t have a map of the terrain.
Cross posted at: http://danielwrasmus.com/blog.aspx.
This crazy age of recession does strange things.
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