Despite supposed signs of an economic recovery, it may continue to be a long, hard slog for those seeking jobs in the high tech sector, says one study:
A separate UCLA study of the Bay Area economy, released simultaneously with the statewide forecast, said that slow recovery will be especially pronounced in the nine-county region. “It will be years, not months, before the Bay Area’s economy regains its luster,” the report cautions.
The subdued outlook reflects UCLA’s assessment of the national economy. The university’s forecasters expect moderate growth over the next few years, but few new jobs, a dynamic they have dubbed “the Twilight Zone economy.”
Although the nation’s output of goods and services is growing — it rose at a sizzling 8.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter — greater production is not translating into many more jobs. “Humans don’t seem to be making all this stuff,” UCLA economists quip.
Another factor, outsourcing:
[T]he most important explanation for slow job growth involves changing patterns of corporate hiring, especially in technology, the sector that dominates the Bay Area economy.
Technology hardware and software companies are already experiencing a rebound in demand for their products. But when companies add to their workforces to meet rising demand, they often hire in India or China rather than California.
The good news is that displaced workers can find high-paying jobs elsewhere:
The restaurant industry has gone on a hiring spree over the last four months, suggesting that broader gains in the job market could be on the way.
Since the beginning of August, the restaurant business, which includes everything from McDonald’s to corner bars to four-star restaurants, has accounted for 18 percent of the 300,000 jobs created in the nation.
Some economists say that an increase in low-wage jobs, which include most restaurant work, indicates that the job market over all will soon bounce back
Dine in or carry out?