Thursday, August 12, 2010

Unemployment Picture Bleak . . . . . and Change Is Making It Ever Darker

Every new report shows that employment in the U.S. is in a long dark descending tunnel. The number of jobs being created is being outpaced by those being shed. This unpleasant but inescapable fact is not inexplicable. It is due to the uncertain business environment created by the changes being imposed by the nation's current administration. Adding employees already is very costly . . . and, while it is clear that hiring new workers will be even more expensive in the future, the magnitude of future increasing costs cannot be determined. To understand today's real employment costs and the rational considerations that recently led a small company to conclude that hiring additional workers is overly risky even though the company really could use some new employees, see this lucid explanation by the owner of the business. The described decision making process is not an isolated one. It is replicated on a regular ongoing basis in businesses of every size throughout the country. The result is that the nation's payrolls are shrinking and everybody who is not unconscious or in (and committed to growing) the government know it. The downward tunnel is likely to get darker, longer, and steeper.

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