Scary Chart of the Day – 10/29/10

Calculated Risk: Housing Bust impacting Manager Mobility

One of the strengths of the U.S. labor market has been the flexibility associated with labor mobility at all levels of employment – households could easily move from one region to another for better employment. The sharp decline in house prices, leaving homeowners with significant negative equity, appears to be limiting this flexibility.

Bad times for moving companies

It’s Saturday morning and I’m not sufficiently caffeinated, sitting in my office catching up on the news when I come across this chart.  So I get up and get another cup of Joe, sip and think a little more about just what this chart is telling me.

A lot.

Scary Charts of the Day – 09.20.2010

Number of People Using Google Reader Minimum Once WeeklyNumber of Google Reader Items Read Per Day

Official Google Reader Blog: A welcome and a look back

These charts should be extremely scary especially to folks in the newspaper and media businesses.  If you wanted some hard evidence on consumer preferences for news outlets shifting to the Internet, here you go.  The top chart is the number of people who use Google Reader at least once a week.  The bottom chart is the number of items read on Google Reader.

Personally, we still buy a daily newspaper.

The New US Economy

Lost Decade for American Income – WSJ.com

For your Scary Charts check out the article link below.

Falling off the American Dream treadmill – Real median U.S. household income falls under $50,000. Poverty rate has grown exponentially since 2000, during the housing bubble.

Or see what Yves Smith is writing about real estate.

Latest Real Estate Time Bomb: Title of Foreclosed Properties Clouded; Wells Fargo Dumping Risk on Hapless Buyers « naked capitalism

Mind Shift

The hidden trend in the monthly jobs report — and what it means for you | paulacaligiuri.com

There is a big change on the horizon in the way we should conceive of the concept of jobs – and it is dramatically changing how job security will be created in the future. For many, jobs of the future may be more like multiple income generating activities (or gigs) where we leverage our talents and skills. Job security will no longer be derived from being employed 40 hours/week. Rather, it will be something we create for ourselves when our talents and skills are in demand.

This is a mind shift.

The emphasis of the future will be on the skills you bring, rather than the job you occupy. There will be a far greater focus on self-management of both our skills and our network, two critical components of career success. Possessing more sought-out skills and having a strong network will be related to more income opportunities, whether working for a single organization or as an independent contractor.

Perhaps we need to take a collective deep breath and realize that, while change is afoot, this free agent mentality may also come with some upsides:

  • You will now have tremendous flexibility to plan and grow your own career, no longer relinquishing career management to an employer.
  • You will now have the ability to craft your sources of income across multiple opportunities if this is what you chose to do.
  • You will now have the opportunity to engage in a career that fits with your life – and not vice versa.

Thanks Paula.  I could not have said this better myself.