Yesterday I saw an interview with Mark Penn. You remember him; he was the "mastermind" behind Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign last year who said she would be the Democratic candidate by February 5th [Super Tuesday]. Oh well, you can't be right all the time! However, he was right about something. In the interview, he talked about microtrends, the stimulus plan, & "white collar" workers.
Outsourcing White-Collar Jobs
Long before the financial meltdown, I have been saying that we are outsourcing our upper middle class jobs & better re-think things like our corporate tax plan [by giving tax incentives to those companies that create jobs here as opposed to sending them abroad]. Most manufacturing is now done in Asia but no one thought they would outsource professional jobs like doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc but that's just what's happened. The "kicker" is that these outsourced jobs are going to graduates of American colleges & universities. Twenty years ago, they would have moved here for a better life but now they can live in their homeland and have that better standard of living. In the meantime, jobs at all levels are pouring out of this country. To make matters worse, unlike the last forty or fifty years, for the first time, we no longer have the best-educated population [even though our colleges & universities remain second to none].
What Will the Unemployed Professionals Do
Penn put some of this in perspective in terms of the jobs that won't be created as a result of the stimulus plan. His point was that there is nothing in the current plan for the rising number of unemployed journalists, lawyers, accountants, & other professionals. He pointed out that in the "old days" [last spring?], these folks could rely on their savings, stocks, & 401k's to cushion them but now everyone is wiped out. In addition to that, I would also tack on the fact that there is nothing for women without a college education given all the talk of "shovel ready" jobs. Just what percentage of women will be "manning" those shovels [pun intended]?
Penn talks about a fast-growing problem with no quick fix or simple solution in sight! So...does the current stimulus plan have "white collar" workers in mind? What's your view?
Case in point... Yours truly.
I came to the U.S. as a child because my mom wanted me to have a good education and a chance at a better career. Lo and behold, I can now go back to Sri Lanka or even India and still keep the *exact* same job.
What's wrong with this picture?
One holdout I will have on the stimulus plan is that it does have incentives for educational institutions. This will have long term implications for jobs here as well as future companies and employees therein.
But the short-term is still a big question.
Somehow, I doubt a medical or law school grad would be fine flipping burgers for a living. I seriously don't see that paying off the student loans.
On a side note:
I haven't read "Microtrends", but the title is awfully reminiscent of the Butterfly Effect.
Posted by: eksith | March 04, 2009 at 01:27 AM