Forget those grim unemployment numbers. Demographic forces are about to put a squeeze on the labor supply that will make it feel like 1999 all over again.

Judy Reed is a buyer in a buyer’s market, and frankly, that has its advantages. The vice president for human resources at Stratus Technologies, a Maynard, Mass., maker of high-reliability servers, Reed never lacks for attention at parties and dinners in this employment-starved economy. When she does post a job, she gets four times the volume of responses she got three years ago, and some job seekers even follow up with Christmas cards. If she wanted to, she could fill every opening at a salary 15 percent below the going rate — as, in fact, many of her competitors do.
More here.



Yep, there’s a labor shortage coming!
Just one problem: It’s not happening — and it’s not likely to happen. Rather, it’s an overblown theory, fed by questionable assumptions, that has gained credibility through sheer repetition. Opposite opinion here.