Both economists and government leaders have been saying a lot about job creation. But let’s get real. As a recent article from the McKinsey Quarterly put it, America’s jobs’ challenge is a marathon, not a sprint.
We’re all glad that job creation is the number one national priority and that the President has called for many approaches to jobs. But packed inside all the messages from numerous sources, McKinsey says, are five myths. The full article is available to you through my link, but here’s a brief summary of the five myths:
- There’s a quick fix. Nope. The scale of the challenge is far too large. Over the past two years, 2 million jobs have been lost, many put out of existence permanently. That means it will take more than 200,000 jobs per month for the next seven years to get us back to where we were before the recession.
- The key to boosting employment is to help small businesses. From 1987 through 2005, nearly a third of all jobs were created by companies with more than 500 workers. The size of the company is only a small piece of the pie. During the latest expansion, most of the jobs came from service sectors, which are made up of both small and large businesses.
- High-tech jobs will solve the problem. Green businesses, biotech and other emerging industries, though part of the solution, can't create the jobs needed right away. Currently those businesses are too small a piece of the business pie to ramp up fast enough to be able to help, even if they have the needed customers.
- Higher productivity kills jobs. That’s a myth also. Productivity stimulates demand for consumer products and goods, for new plants and equipment, which fosters industry expansion and job creation.
- Increasing exports will revise manufacturing employment. The painful truth is job creation is not about regaining the jobs that have been lost. Backshoring of jobs from Asia and Latin America will cause some factories to scale up, but most new growth will come from other sectors. The net growth will probably not come from manufacturing.
So where does that leave workers? The article doesn’t address that issue, but here are my suggestions.
If you’ve got a job, build in as much personal growth and development as possible, and make yourself a necessity for the organization. At the same time that your nose is to the grindstone, pay close attention to the industry and your firm. If the future doesn’t look good, take advantage of opportunities for which you’ve got transferable skills. But get that new job solidly nailed down before you announce your move. Still, it's easier to move from one job to another, than to move from no job.
If you don’t currently have a job, a lot of options are being bandied about. Volunteer to keep your gray matter working and meet more people. Go for a temp position, get smart and build it into a permanent position. Figure out the solo or free lance possibilities for yourself. Recent stats show that approximately 30% of all workers are in solo or free-lance positions. So, what do you know that companies might be willing to pay for on a contractual or consulting basis. Often, the firm that laid you off will use you as a temp, part-timer or consultant, so keep your network going (that’s tougher when you don’t have a job), and never, never burn a bridge. For most people, consulting is a short-term band-aid until they can find an opportunity with another firm. Essentially free-lance consultants like me, who’ve been in the business more than 25 years are rare animals. Oh yeah, there are still $100K plus jobs out there, but they’re few in number and they go to people with great connections and top expertise.
And last, if you can get the money, go back to school to further your education. There are plenty of people with college degrees going back to tech school because some of that job training is short-term and can offer a livelihood.