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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/weekinreview/19uchitelle.html?emc=eta1

Louis Uchitelle has been writing for most of this decade (inclusive of at least one book that I know of) about the "unemployment equation" (my term). With the article I've attached, his distinguished perspective continues. Click on the "graphic" which accompanies the article (Jobs Lost and Gained During the Recession) to look at percent employment changes since December, 2007.

I have consistently told students since the fall of 2007 that we are headed for the worst job market since the Great Depression and that staying in school to add a degree would not be a bad investment. In addition, times like these show off great companies that continue to earn profits and grow (inclusive of grabbing market share from weaker companies): these are the companies to work for. That's why Booz Allen told "Fortune" in February of this year that they were planning on hiring 5,000 people in 2009. Properly done, adding an MS (Accounting) to an MBA does not take a long time and is currently highly prized by management consulting firms (like Booz). Undergrads can earn an MS in Finance post BA and add to their competitive arsenal, etc.

Looking back at the graphic, there are "SHRINKING SECTORS" and "GROWING SECTORS" during this recession. Looking at "sectors" for what's growing gives hints about where work is and where good companies are within those sectors. So, while "auto" is down 35%, "oil and gas exploration" is up 8.6% for that same period. As I said to someone recently, I would be looking for a job in Finance in a hospital in Las Vegas right now. Not only is the health care business growing (with some sectors within it potentially growing exponentially), but Vegas now has housing so low cost (either in foreclosures or the overall market) that the cost of living in upper middle class suburbs (like Henderson) is very low for the quality of life.

Uchitelle quotes Mark Zandi as saying that it is going to take manufacturing and construction a while to stop losing jobs because the necessary confidence for investments won't come back until next summer. When it does, the hiring is likely to be spotty and cautious because we will not have the pent up demand we have had in prior recoveries - there are too many unemployed and credit continues to be harder to get.

As some economists have described it, this recovery is likely to come not with job growth, but "a diminution of job loss."