{"id":30682,"date":"2009-11-16T12:17:08","date_gmt":"2009-11-16T11:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/blog\/?p=30682"},"modified":"2009-11-13T13:23:16","modified_gmt":"2009-11-13T12:23:16","slug":"recovery-the-wild-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.corporate-eye.com\/main\/recovery-the-wild-ride\/","title":{"rendered":"Recovery: Get Ready for the Wild Ride"},"content":{"rendered":"


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In many countries, cities, and industries, the \u201ceconomic recovery\u201d\u2014with its inevitable hiring spree\u2014may still seem like a distant notion.\u00a0 But the fact that some things are hard to imagine is one of the reasons we are sometimes surprised.<\/p>\n

So I was fascinated by a group of stories on National Public Radio\u2019s Morning Edition recently<\/a>.\u00a0 Let’s start:<\/p>\n

In Las Vegas. <\/strong> It\u2019s a busy time at the soon-to-open CityCenter<\/a> complex, where thousands of hospitality workers are being outfitted for their new positions.\u00a0 Their jobs are among 12,000 created so far by CityCenter.\u00a0 The lucky 12,000 were culled from 170,000 applicants\u2014and that kind of hiring offensive must require a small army of people to locate, process, equip and orient the new employees.\u00a0 To say nothing of an industrial-strength website.\u00a0 Like everything developed by MGM, CityCenter Careers<\/a> is a seduction in itself, so drop by\u2014and don\u2019t skip the intro.<\/p>\n

From a recovery perspective, however . . . hold on for the whiplash.\u00a0 Completion of CityCenter means 9,000 construction jobs are ending\u2014and with new building projects still far between in most cities, it won\u2019t be easy to absorb that capacity.\u00a0 On the other hand:<\/p>\n

To Poland!<\/strong> Eastern Europe has had a lot of experience already with economic rebuilding, which was not a simple matter after decades of Communist rule.\u00a0 Poland is one of the happy stories there, however.\u00a0 We learn that \u201cStrong internal consumer spending has helped insulate the country from the worst effects of the global financial crisis. Poland remains the only country in Europe with positive growth in the second quarter this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s huge, complicated . . .<\/p>\n

China, where:\u00a0 \u201c<\/strong>The global recession threw some 20 million migrant laborers out of work.\u201d Many of these workers had migrated from the populous and primarily rural interior of China to the coastal cities, where jobs have been more plentiful.\u00a0 But now many of those unable to remain employed on the coast are going back to their inland homes.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the twist.\u00a0 Some returning migrants are using their experience to open new businesses.\u00a0 And some coastal companies are following incentives into the interior.\u00a0 \u201cAll this has helped make labor a sellers market,\u201d according to the report. Xiang Wenbo, who recently established an association of labor recruiters in Wanzhou, says \u201cWe’re now suffering shortages of workers here. \u00a0Even though we’re a big labor-exporting region, economic growth is speeding up and local firms need more new hires. Our fees for introducing employees to companies have gone up steeply.\u201d<\/p>\n

So?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The moral is that sudden growth in hiring can come about for a variety of reasons\u2014and they are not necessarily predictable. Or even logical.\u00a0 Above we have three flavors of surprise:<\/p>\n