One very serious affect that a recession has is the inevitable layoffs that occur as companies struggle to keep their doors open by cutting their greatest expense – labor. Unemployment is currently at a 25 year high at 8.9%, and according to the new Federal Reserve outlook, unemployment is expected to continue to rise to between 9.2% and 9.6% this year. The minutes from the April 28-29 Federal Open Market Committee meeting showed Most Fed members "indicated they expected the economy to take five or six years to converge to a longer-run path characterized by a sustainable rate of output growth and by rates of unemployment and inflation consistent with the Federal Reserve's dual objectives, but several said full convergence would take longer." This means that the staggering 5.7 million jobs lost since the recession officially began in December 2007, including the 539,000 jobs lost last month, pales in comparison to what is to come. As gloomy as this seems, it doesn’t mean that there will not be ample opportunity to make more money than ever before. With innovations in technology, transportation and communication you now have a global marketplace to tap into.
Protestors march with picket signs everyday trying to hang on to jobs from industries long gone to distant shores where corporations can find less expensive labor and materials. Gone are the days when you could graduate high school and work at the local factory or mill or go to college and manage that plant or mill until you were ready for retirement 40 years later. Being a life-long employee in a company just isn't realistic anymore. Those days are gone forever. The quicker we begin to understand that, the quicker we can see the new opportunities that are emerging around the world.
Outsourcing, which many Americans see as the downfall of this country can also be the saving grace of this country. Aside from the fact that outsourcing has kept inflation down, thus maintaining a higher standard of living for the average American, it has also provided new opportunities for those with the technical skills that emerging economies around the world require. Once we get past our own arrogance, we can see that as the US dollar declines against the British pound, the Euro and the Yen we are a cheaper source of labor for companies in other countries. You can become the recipient of outsourcing from other countries that lack the affordable labor pool with the skills required for their growth. You can place your skills on websites that cater to a global audience of companies that require services such as www.elance.com.
There is also money to be made closer to home if you are willing to examine the future trends of how companies will do business in the new economy. Companies are scaling down to skeleton crews, and will begin to hire specialists (independent contractors) on a job by job basis. This allows a company to reduce its operating costs and maintain a higher profit margin as opposed to keeping a full time staff that would require union wages, sick leave, vacation time, payroll taxes and health benefits. This means that in order to have steady income you must retrain and repackage yourself as an independent contractor that moves from company to company offering your specialized knowledge at a price. Independent contractors can perform specific functions for a company ranging from, telemarketing, advertising manager to electrician, and sign an independent contractor agreement specifying the range of time they'll be working with the company and how and when they are compensated. You become a highly-valued specialist and the very thing most people only dream of... your own boss.
Outsourcing your skills or becoming an independent contractor is not a simple task to accomplish. However, neither is getting up to go to work and having other people dictate your agenda, your meal breaks, what time you'll go home, and then leaving feeling under-appreciated and realizing you can get axed at anytime. Weigh your options, start doing the research, and make something happen. Your future depends on it.
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