XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: liars@cheats.com   
      
   Imagine being served your poolside drinks by a lawyer, or   
   getting your chicken sandwich delivered by an experienced   
   marketing professional. The first is a friend of mine, the   
   second my waitress a few weeks ago. Both lost jobs due to   
   economic downturns at their organizations. Both took available   
   work to pay the bills while looking for new positions in their   
   chosen professions.   
      
   My friend and the waitress are victims of a massive but hidden   
   problem called underemployment. Watching falling unemployment   
   numbers being reported at 6.2%, down from nearly 10% four years   
   earlier, is simply misleading.   
      
   Despite the significant decrease in the official U.S. Bureau of   
   Labor Statistics (BLS) unemployment rate, the real unemployment   
   rate is over double that at 12.6%. This number reflects the   
   government’s “U-6” report, which accounts for the full   
   unemployment picture including those “marginally attached to the   
   labor force,” plus those “employed part time for economic   
   reasons.”   
      
   “Marginally attached” describes individuals not currently in the   
   labor force who wanted and were available for work. The official   
   unemployment numbers exclude them, because they did not look for   
   work in the 4 weeks preceding the unemployment survey. In July,   
   this marginally attached group accounted for 2.2 million people.   
   To put that in perspective, there are currently 16 states in the   
   U.S. with populations smaller than 2.2 million.   
      
   741,000 discouraged workers – workers not currently looking for   
   work because they believe no jobs are available for them – are   
   included within the list of marginally attached people. Another   
   7.5 million were not considered unemployed because they were   
   employed part-time for economic reasons. Those people are also   
   called involuntary part-time workers – working part-time because   
   their hours were cut back or because they were unable to secure   
   a full-time job.   
      
   When you look at state populations – using the 7.5 million – the   
   number represents more than the population of Washington,   
   Massachusetts, or Arizona.   
      
   These numbers mean the U.S. has nearly 10 million workers only   
   marginally engaged in their work situation. They don’t   
   contribute their full potential to their households, the economy   
   or society in general. While reporting a low, declining   
   unemployment number may comfort people, we can’t ignore the   
   millions of workers feeling the pain of the real unemployment   
   number rising from 12.4% to 12.6% last month.   
      
   Dan Diamond’s Forbes article, Why The ‘Real’ Unemployment Rate   
   Is Higher Than You Think highlights another disturbing fact that   
   compounds the challenge: The longer you’re without a job, the   
   less likely you’ll get called back for an interview. By the   
   eighth month of unemployment the callback rate falls by about   
   45%. The article concludes “many employers see these would-be   
   workers as damaged goods.” These same people could be   
   contributing greatly to the economy. Instead, they are spending   
   their days trying to secure employment or working in   
   unfulfilling and part-time jobs while depleting their savings   
   and 401K’s to supplement their income. Or worse yet, living off   
   their credit cards just to survive.   
      
   The answer to these challenges is not solely job creation, but   
   creating the right jobs to maximize a labor force. Here is the   
   solution:   
      
   Quality Over Quantity   
      
   Getting people back to work is good, but if the quality of their   
   employment is down or the money earned insufficient you create   
   other problems:   
      
   unsatisfied and disengaged workers   
   low productivity and work quality   
   high turnover and operating costs   
   financial, social, and household strain   
      
   To create quality jobs there must be an accurate window into the   
   people needing work, not just programs in place to retrain   
   highly skilled and experienced workers for low-skilled jobs.   
   Retraining should be available, but for those truly desiring a   
   new career. There must be an effort by employers to fully   
   utilize and capitalize on the talents their potential employees   
   can bring to their organizations.   
      
   When interviewing candidates – or evaluating your current   
   workforce – look beyond the role they are pursuing or filling.   
   Assess what else they can deliver for your organization. What   
   skills and experiences are they not using in their current role?   
   Is there a way to expand their current jobs to include and   
   leverage missed opportunities? Paying attention to what is on a   
   candidate’s and employee’s resume, closely observing their work,   
   and asking good questions about other contributions they feel   
   they can make are effective ways of performing this assessment.   
      
   Post assessment, work-sharing and job rotation programs provide   
   employees a chance to apply unused but valuable experience and   
   to contribute at higher levels.   
      
   High-Skilled Jobs Promote Healthy Economies   
      
   While governments may believe low unemployment is the key to   
   economic success, it has not proven true. In 24/7 Wall St.’s   
   article Nine Countries Where Everyone Has A Job, a highlighted   
   2012 study concluded: “only a minority of the countries with low   
   unemployment actually have a healthy economy where middle-class   
   jobs are abundant.” These middle-class, higher skilled jobs tend   
   to have a greater impact on innovation, productivity and   
   improved efficiency.   
      
   After World War II, Europe’s economy recovered quickly despite   
   its destroyed factories and infrastructure. This was primarily   
   due to maximizing and strategically leveraging the experienced   
   workforce.   
      
   Unlike investing in machines – which need replacing over time –   
   human knowledge becomes stronger and more valuable the more it   
   is used and developed. Highly skilled people grow weaker and   
   become less valuable to our economy when they spend their days   
   looking for work or occupied in jobs that don’t further develop   
   and hone their capabilities.   
      
   A product designer spending 40 hours a week pondering and   
   developing new products – plus getting additional training –   
   will become more creative, knowledgeable and innovative. He/she   
   will also add further value to their organization the more they   
   work in their job.   
      
   An assembly line worker instructed to repeat the same required   
   task over and over has little room to add more value to   
   him/herself or their organization. Except for their own   
   assertively offered suggestions, that worker may only add value   
   when their task alters as a result of innovations from higher-   
   skilled workers. While the product designer can help other   
   product designers around him or her get better; the assembly   
   line worker may again be limited by the job and unable to effect   
   change in the same way.   
      
   Innovation First   
      
   In the early 1900s, economist Joseph Schumpeter coined the term   
   “creative destruction” – occurring when something new destroys   
   something older. When an organization creates a new product or   
   finds a better way of doing something, it can eliminate its   
   competition. The invention of the personal computer is a great   
   example of this. Many mainframe computer companies became   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)