Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Strategist Mark Penn discusses how unprepared the US is for the newly unemployed masses
Wall Street Journal Microtrends Column: Laid-Off Lawyers and Other Professionals
By MARK PENN with E. KINNEY ZALESNE
From The Wall Street Journal Microtrends Column
Published March 2, 2009
With all the concern about America’s manufacturing sector losing jobs, it is easy to miss that the newest phenomenon is the wholesale loss of professional jobs, the very jobs that fueled America’s economic resurgence and political realignment over the last decade.
America has been losing manufacturing jobs for decades. The rest of the world has, too, including China, mostly because automation has made manufacturing more efficient. In the meantime, we have had huge growth in America’s professional class: engineers, software writers, lawyers, doctors — even licensed massage therapists.
 Mark Penn is the worldwide CEO of the public relations firm Burson-Marsteller, CEO of the polling firm Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates, and author of Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow’s Big Changes. |
About Microtrends
The paperback edition of Microtrends, including many new and updated trends, is climbing on The New York Times’ Bestsellers list.
Here's what critics are saying:
"Unrelentingly fascinating ... a diligently researched tome chock-full of counterintuitive facts and findings that may radically alter the way you see the present, the future, and your places in both."
-- The New York Times
"Riveting ... imaginative ... Penn is as much a business consultant as he is a political junkie―a symbiosis that helps explain why so much of his book is so original."
--Financial Times
"Delightful and fast-paced...A breezy, entertaining consideration of niche groups within America."
--Business Week
"Read it for its dozens of social insights that could well be turned to profit."
-- The Economist
Join the Mailing List
Recent Posts
- Politico: Poll: Surprising demand for immigration reform, says Mark Penn
- Mark Penn’s Microtrends wins WPP Atticus Award
- Politico: Watch the Obama reelect numbers, says Mark Penn
- The Washington Post: Mark Penn answers “Topic A”: What should Obama focus on next?
- The New York Times: Mark Penn answers “How Can Obama Rebound?”
Huffington Post Blog Entries
- The Huffington Post: Poll Shows People Support Checks and Balances, But Want More Limits on Supreme Court Justices
- The Huffington Post: Strategy Corner with Mark Penn: Time for Obama to Lift the BP Fog With a New Strategy
- The Huffington Post: Strategy Corner by Mark Penn: Time for a New Kind of Bold from President Obama
- The Huffington Post: Strategy Corner: The Health Care Jam by Mark Penn
- The Huffington Post: State of the Union Scorecard by Mark Penn
Wall Street Journal Microtrends Column
- Wall Street Journal Microtrends Column: Religious Independents: God Without the Religion by Mark Penn
- Wall Street Journal Microtrends Column: The Unemployment Cushion by Mark Penn
- Wall Street Journal Microtrends Column: On the Web, Amateurs Rivaling Professionals by Mark Penn
- Wall Street Journal Microtrends Column: The Declining Soccer Mom by Mark Penn
- Wall Street Journal Microtrends Column: Grandparents to the Rescue by Mark Penn
Politico Column
- Politico: The Strategy Corner with Mark Penn: Turning to the left or to the center?
- Politico: The Strategy Corner with Mark Penn: White House is right to push back
- Politico: The Strategy Corner with Mark Penn: Crossroads to action
- Politico: The Strategy Corner with Mark Penn: Obama should carry, not be, the story
- Politico: The Strategy Corner with Mark Penn: Health care needs a clear message