Comments on: Recovery? Not Yet http://www.creativeclass.com/_v3/creative_class/2009/06/15/recovery-not-yet/ The source on how we live, work and play Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:10:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Wendy http://www.creativeclass.com/_v3/creative_class/2009/06/15/recovery-not-yet/comment-page-1/#comment-13039 Wendy Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:38:24 +0000 http://www.creativeclass.com/_v3/creative_class/?p=11931#comment-13039 When economic historians look back at this recession, one intriguing feature they'll likely see is "talent hoarding" or employers finding ways to hang on to their staff -- and even poach talent from elsewhere -- while also reducing HR costs. Part time work, partially-paid leaves of absense and signing bonus but delayed start dates all seem to be features this time in many industries that face labour shortages. So, tracking actual hours worked, rather than layoffs or the number of people collecting benefits, will likely prove the better indicator of broader economic improvement as this metric applies more broadly across industries. Too bad there isn't a readily available monthly stat like this for Canada (to the best of my knowledge -- please tell me if you know of one!) When economic historians look back at this recession, one intriguing feature they’ll likely see is “talent hoarding” or employers finding ways to hang on to their staff — and even poach talent from elsewhere — while also reducing HR costs. Part time work, partially-paid leaves of absense and signing bonus but delayed start dates all seem to be features this time in many industries that face labour shortages.

So, tracking actual hours worked, rather than layoffs or the number of people collecting benefits, will likely prove the better indicator of broader economic improvement as this metric applies more broadly across industries.

Too bad there isn’t a readily available monthly stat like this for Canada (to the best of my knowledge — please tell me if you know of one!)

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