By Kevin Meyer
I subscribe to three of the Kiplinger Letter publications - the original Kiplinger Letter, the Kiplinger Tax Letter, and the Kiplinger California Letter. Each weekly edition is a concise 2-3 page summary of economic, political, policy, and business data, news, events, and forecasts and generally right on target.
The economics section of the July 2nd edition of the Kiplinger Letter discussed the current employment situation, and had the following interesting comment:
A younger one. The pattern of past recessions is being turned upside down
in this downturn. More employers are deciding that they get more bang for their buck
with experienced workers, even though their pay may be higher. One reason:
Their institutional memory. Another: Their work ethic. Employers say they don’t need
to tell oldsters to turn off their iPods, remind them how to dress or to come in on time.
Bang for the buck? Could that mean... value? An older pair of hands has more value than a younger pair? Well, ok, I thought that was what they meant before the "turn off their iPods" comment.
On that final note, perhaps we're experiencing what every generation has to experience at least once: a downturn creating a recognition that there's also value in working hard... and taking work seriously. Prosperity isn't handed to you on a silver platter or in a success redistribution check from the government.
Although these days I've started to wonder.