PW2 Web Blog

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is building a searchable, public database of consumer product incident reports to be released March 11, 2011.

Filed under Life, Work, and Society, Technology, Thrivability

Tags used: Consumers —

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Middle Class Is Vanishing, The Next Big Thing Is Still Unseen

Contributed by Rick DeVan on September 7, 2010 at 7:00 am ET

Resource: Middle class vanishing as new hires divide into high-paid professionals, low-paid everyone else: Analysis

Job creation will likely remain weak for months or even years. But once employers do step up hiring, some economists expect job openings to fall mainly into two categories of roughly equal numbers:

Professional fields with higher pay. Think lawyers, research scientists and software engineers.

Lower-skill and lower-paying jobs, like home health care aides and store clerks.

And those in between? Their outlook is bleaker. Economists foresee fewer moderately paid factory supervisors, postal workers and office administrators.

Technology spurred job growth after the 1982 and 1991 recessions. The PC became revolutionary in the early 1980s. Internet use exploded after the Mosaic Web browser was introduced in 1994. Housing eventually lifted employment after the 2001 dot-com bust.

“There’s a lack of clarity on what the next big thing is going to be this time,” said David Card, an economics professor at the University of California.

Resource: Weekend Reading: Optimism, Pessimism, Realism… and Opportunity

First, say “Ugh”. Then, find the opportunity. These are not just economic changes.

Filed under Business and Commerce, Life, Work, and Society, Marketing

Tags used: Consumers, Marketing —

Comments and discussion are welcome on the PW2 Web Facebook Page up to four weeks after publication date.