Unemployment

When I started this blog in April, I knew it had an expiration date. I signed a short-term contract. I referred to myself as a guest blogger on Yahoo! Even the title, "Working the New Economy," suggested that this was a project of limited duration. After all, how long could this "new economy" last?

Now that it's time to wrap up, it's pretty clear that the new economy has become the new normal. And I can't say that I have figured out exactly how to work it. Unemployment has now topped 10%. Counting those who are underemployed, it's closer to 20%. Mass layoffs are still happening, including a round at BusinessWeek last week where several of my most respected colleagues were shown the door.

One defining feature of this not-so-new-anymore economy is that we will all need to flexible and nimble. I've worked independently for nearly a decade. And now it seems that my usual mix of contract work, freelance relationships, consulting and other kinds of affiliations has become standard in what Tina Brown so aptly dubbed the gig economy.

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I don't like to jump ahead too often because when you have kids it seems life moves at warp speed as it is. But I've often thought about how fun it will be when our kids are older and they come home from college or beyond for the holidays.

For lots of young adults and parents, life currently is an extended holiday in a recession that has hit young workers extra hard. One in seven parents with grown children have had at least one of those grown children move back home this past year, according to a Pew Research Center study. Read More »