By: Jeremy Radnor
Everywhere you look today, it seems there is more evidence of the poor job market and weak economy. The media would lead you to believe that things cannot get any worse and we are facing the end of the world. This is obviously an exageration but the current situation should not be taken lightly. It is time to take a closer look at the job market and how people are coping and behaving.
To begin with, recently the unemployement rate has reached a 17 year high. As terrible as this is, people are quick to forget that still over 90% of the US is employed. This means that more than 9/10 people have a job. None-the-less, as things seem to turn increasingly worse, the work-life balance that has been stressed in the past is quickly being forgotten. Employers and employees used to promote a balanced approach to work and life. This has benefits for both the employee and employer. Employees have more free time and feel better. This leads to better work in the work place. Today, there is no balance. It would appear the work force has been divided into two segments, work and life.
The work group can be divided into two additional segments. The first group being those who work to ensure they are employed. This group consists of employees who work ridculous hours in a day just to ensure they arent fired. The second group are those who work out of love. With the job market as it is, many people have been forced to try new and different careers (careers of passion). Employees are finding themselves feeling happier and more fulfilled.
As for the life group, these people have decided to simply ignore the current situation. This is extremely evident within generation-Yers. Many generation-Yers are taking the current situation as an opportunity. Yers have been using their severance pay or unemplyoyment aid to simply live it up. Yers have been quoted saying they are gonna take their severance and backpack through India or they use it to go out and party. Although these may not be good fiscal decisions, they are definitley enjoying life.
This leads me to the point of this article. Just because things are a little worse than usual, it doesnt mean everything changes. Work-life balance is still a vital aspect of a successful life (professionally and personally).
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