The Cynosural Blog

I keep seeing signs that the economy is getting worse.

1. Acquaintances and friends who were caught up in a RIF, or in a series of RIFs from one company after another, starting in 2001, are either still out of work or in a much lower paying job - often outside their chosen career path.
2. Construction workers can't find jobs as their current projects finish; projects that were started in 2001 through 2004 based upon a permit process that started in 1998 or so.
3. Restaurants and retail shops are closing, often after more than a decade of being in business.
4. Businesses are cutting back in services or quality, whether making a joke of customer service, or restaurants using lower cost ingredients [e.g. salads that used to be all yuppie greens - baby frisee, oak leaf lettuce, arugula, etc are now iceberg lettuce with a scattering of the more expensive stuff on top].
5. Salaries offered to those lucky enough to get a new job in their field are more suited to someone with 5 years of experience, not the 15 or more years garnered by the person being hired.

What started out as a burst bubble in the high tech industry [mainly IT or telecoms related] quickly spread to other high tech areas from physics research to pharmaceuticals and many things in between, and is now affecting all areas of the economy, in the USA and spreading to other areas of the world. This isn't just in the silicon valley, as I hear similar stories from folk in the midwest and the east coast, as well as Australia, ASEAN & EU countries.

Innovation, multiple revenue streams or product lines, and partnerships are the key to survival in such an economy, for individuals, businesses of all sizes, and even government services.