Mad Men is one of the few television programs, outside of the work-based reality programs, that takes employment and business seriously. Many of the storylines center on the business activities of Sterling Cooper Draper Price (SCDP), the advertising agency in New York at which Don Draper, Roger Sterling and the other main characters are employed. [...]

At Fox and Hounds, we have posted several times about the enormous volatility of jobs in California. This volatility divides into two parts: the ongoing job creation/destruction, and the on-going movement of workers, voluntarily and involuntarily, among jobs. The latest Bureau  of Labor Statistics (BLS) report on job creation/destruction, issued on May 1, 2013 shows [...]

The “knowledge economy” is perhaps the dominating narrative in California employment in 2013. It is a narrative pushed forward by a number of the state’s leading policy organizations, management consulting firms, and economic development agencies.  Some of the narrative is correct; a good part of it is incorrect. According to this narrative, the knowledge economy [...]

The  three story brick building at 181 Fremont Street in San Francisco’s  South of Market area stands out among the surrounding  high rise office and residential towers.  The building, with a fading advertisement from the 1930s for “Highest Grade Coffee” on its north exterior, is one of the last remnants of the area’s  industrial past—built [...]

In California workforce circles,  a main 2013 meme regards the “skills gap”, by which tens of thousands or more of skilled jobs are going unfilled in California, even as our employment rate is 9.8%. Local and firm-based skills gaps are present in California, presenting targeted opportunities for our local Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs)  and community [...]

The latest national job numbers announced last Friday produced the predictable cheerleading from the national media on the strength of the recovery in employment (see here and here). California workforce practitioners know better.  As Fox & Hounds frequently points out, the official unemployment rate and even the payroll numbers less and less describe what is [...]

From the Imperial County through the Central Valley and north to Shasta, Del Norte and Modoc counties,  and especially in the coastal regions of our state, Californians will soon hear more of Ms. Sheryl Sandberg. In the next week a massive public relation campaign will be launched to publicize Ms. Sandberg’s new book , Lean [...]

(This is a longer version of an essay that first appeared last Friday, Jan 25, in the San Francisco Chronicle opinion section.) San Francisco is being taken over by technology workers; its creative culture replaced by a culture of  money; its bohemia replaced by a tech conformity. That’s the view put forward recently by former [...]

Marty Nemko is one of the deans of job coaches in California. He has been advising job seekers in person and through radio and newspaper columns since 1986. Entering his 27th year, he has lost none of his enthusiasm for placing people into jobs, and following up for successful placements. Many Bay Area residents know [...]

How is the internet/mobile technology changing the job structure in California? What jobs are being eliminated? What jobs are being created? Are more jobs being created than destroyed? These questions are at the heart of several books and articles published in the past year, among the most prominent being Michael Saylor’s The Mobile Wave. As [...]