Perfect Labor Storm

9 Workforce Trends Worth Knowing

In 1999 I coined the term “Perfect Labor Storm” to describe the multiple factors working in concert to create a critical shortage of workers.  At that time the…

Skilled Worker Shortages Reach Widespread but Not Evenly Distributed

If the survey of economists in a recent Associated Press Economy Survey is correct, the job market will still be unhealthy seven years (2016) after the Great Recession officially ended…

Who’s to Blame for Job Skill Shortages: Employers, Workers, or Schools?

Who’s to blame for the shortage of skilled workers? Not unlike politics, it depends who you ask. Employers blame schools. Schools blame government. Workers blame employers. The Institute for…

Why Complexity Drives Managers Crazy

Business life has always featured the unpredictable, the surprising, and the unexpected. What’s changed is that the level of complexity that people have to cope with has simply become…

H1N1 Will Expose Crisis of Finding Skilled Workers

A large spike in H1N1 screenings could clog a lab system already struggling with a shortage of skilled workers. A shortage of hospital beds and public health providers also looms…

More Women as Breadwinners: Low NY Literacy Rates a Factor

July 7, 2009 NEW YORK – In New York and across the country, far more men have lost jobs during the current recession than have women, and that's…

Recession Emphasizes Shift in Men to Women as Breadwinners

The following was published on the Public News Service website this morning.  An audio of the interview is available on the website or by downloading here. LANCASTER, Pa. – In…

Working Moms working harder and more stressed this Mother’s Day

According to Adecco Group (the largest staffing agency in the world) North America’s latest American Workplace Insights Survey in honor of Mother’s Day, more than three quarters of…

Is the Perfect Labor Storm over?

The picture below tells the story. Between 1970 and 1980, the U.S. workforce grew a whopping 29%.  Between 2000 and 2010 growth slowed to 12%, still robust but…

The New World of Work!

“The average knowledge worker will outlive the average employing organization. This is the first time in history that’s happened. … ” Peter Drucker, Business 2.0 (08.22.00) Thanks to…