jenk | (no subject)

From The WSJ, on the atypical recovery we're having:

"While I am confident that people will find new jobs, they are more likely to be in a new industry that requires new skills," says Thomas Hoenig, president of the Kansas City Federal Reserve. "This will ... involve more than simply returning to the old job or the old way of doing things." [...] For example, while the manufacturing sector has cut 645,000 jobs in the past year alone, health-care employment has risen by 248,000 jobs. Retailers have eliminated nearly 49,000 jobs, while residential construction companies have added close to 42,000. More people are working at homes for the elderly, but public-school teachers are being laid off in the face of massive state and local budget shortfalls.

"I suspect that a large part of these net job losses -- particularly in manufacturing, airlines, and telecommunications -- are permanent and will not be reversed as the economy gains steam," said Susan Bies, a member of the Federal Reserve Board, in a speech last week. "Instead, new jobs will need to be created in other sectors of the economy to replace them. This process will take time."

For some workers, temporary-help offices offer the best refuge these days. Still skittish about the recovery, many companies have been reluctant to make permanent commitments to workers until they see clear signs that the economic recovery is real. Temporary employment has risen for five straight months, after falling early in the year. Increasingly, many of these agencies provide retraining for workers who are switching industries. Other workers looking to change careers have been signing up at community colleges for programs in hot areas such as nursing, which has faced worker shortages for years.

Otoh, part of me would love to learn nursing. Otoh, I think the emotional fallout would be extremely difficult for me to handle.