“Grace and Frankie” and Growing Old in California’s Job Market
As we note from time to time on Fox & Hounds, popular culture often can help us think about employment issues, shedding light on emerging job market dynamics and spurring discussion. Grace and Frankie is the Netflix comedy-drama series, launched in May 2015, that released its second season of 13 episodes last month. Lily Tomlin […]
The Neurodiversity Movement Finds a Friend in Microsoft, But Tough Questions About Employment Lie Ahead
The neurodiversity in employment movement came to our state last week. On the morning of June 6, over 200 neurodiversity advocates from around the country gathered at the Microsoft campus in Mountain View, for the “Neurodiversity in the High Tech Workforce” conference. The event demonstrated the growing heft of the movement, while also indicating some […]
Bernie Sanders’ Attacks On The 1% Raise Important Question: Who Does Productive Work Today?
(This posting is an edited version of a posting that appeared yesterday in Forbes, on a central employment issue raised by Bernie Sanders’ current campaigning in California). Over the past week of campaigning in California, Sen. Bernie Sanders has continued to denounce the power of the wealthy to influence American government, declaring in Long Beach […]
Workpop and the Internet Job Placement Competition of 2016
Faster, faster; smarter, smarter, smarter, the competition among internet job placement companies intensifies in 2016. Hundreds of companies will be entering and exiting the field this year, as they compete promising greater success for job seekers, and/or a better hiring process for employers. Workpop (www.workpop.com), based in Santa Monica, is one of the fastest growing […]
Gee, Officer Krupke
It is valuable from time to time to be reminded of how our public workforce system in California and nationwide—the system of job training/counseling/placement—has improved over the past few decades. This past week, while in New York, I was reminded of two failed workforce policies that held sway in 1960s and 1970s, and how they […]
The Job Creation/Destruction Machine that is California
A continuing storyline of the California economy is the enormous job creation and job destruction that goes on below the surface of the monthly job numbers. Each month around 300,000 payroll jobs are destroyed, and an equal amount created, even as the monthly payroll job total moves only a little. It’s been a few years […]
Over 600,000 Job Openings In California On An Average Day In 2016: How Can This Be?
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there are more than 600,000 job openings on an average day in California in March 2016. How can this be, with so many Californians having difficulty finding a job. Let’s start with the data, and bring in our frequent labor market analyst, Mr. Brandon Hooker of […]
How Large is the Gig Economy in California in 2016?
Our Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) regional commissioner, Richard Holden, passes along the news this week that BLS is proposing to re-start its Contingent Work Supplement (CWS) survey. It is welcome news. The revival of the survey should help address the growing debate in California and nationwide: to what extent is the gig economy—the economy […]
California’s Contingent Economy and the Autistic Creativities Collective
In the 1990s, Donald Cohen was one of the early researchers and explainers of California’s emerging contingent economy. As this economy grew over the next two decades, he sought to go beyond research, to create mediating institutions helping Californians navigate the movement away from full time employment. This past Saturday he addressed our monthly meeting […]
The Meanings of California’s Low Labor Force Participation Rate
The most recent data on California’s labor force participation rate (the percentage of California adults employed or looking for work) show the rate continuing to decline the past few years, even as job growth is very strong. Why is this? Should workforce practitioners and policymakers in California be concerned? How much does the rate represent […]