7/04/2008

Microtrends II - Work Life

This is the second part of a summary of "Microtrends: Surprising Tales of the Way We Live", by Mark J. Penn, and E. Kinney Zalesne I started yesterday.

Today, it's about working people.

The authors identify five groups:

a) The Working Retired: Today there are twice as many +65 people in the workforce than in the early 1980s with figures constantly rising. Some have to, but a lot just want to.

b) The Extreme Commuters: They have to overcome great distances between work and home. 3.4 million travel at least 90 minutes each way, and they do it for economic reasons, for the quality of life and more. In Europe, it's the Brits who win the prize for the longest commute: 45 minutes.

c) The Stay-at-Home Workers: There's a 23 percent increase from 1990 to now. 53 percent are women, the plurality work in management and professional jobs.

d) Wordy Women: Women flood the word-based professions (but not always the decision-making areas): In 2005 57 percent of news analysts, reporters and correspondents were women, in public relations even 70 percent. Pretty much the same goes for the law jobs. On the other hand they hold only between 14 and 16 percent of the jobs in the sciences, architecture and engineering.

e) Ardent Amazons: Women who are increasingly choosing work that demands serious physical strength, from athletes to construction workers. According to a 2007 poll they are big, conservative, heterosexual, and on the way up the economic ladder.

Obviously, all these microtrends have a magnitude of effects and implications which are also discussed in the book.

In the next posts I'll only focus on groups I find really extraordinary or simply amazing, like the Young Knitters (yes!!), or the Surgery Lovers (yes!), the Aspiring Snipers (yes!) or the Number Junkies.

I apologize for the mess on this blog - the right scrollbar doesn't work properly, the blogroll has vanished with a lot of other things. Have to tidy up! :-)

2 comments:

Lydia said...

Another interesting chapter synopsis. That wordy women segment sounded familiar. I remember being told by my boss that I was the best writer in the office. I wanted to say "then pay me as such," but it seems that still isn't the way it works.

I can't wait to find out about young knitters. Knitting is again a big rage here. There's a darling knitting shop in our downtown and the owner gives classes. I don't have time for that right now (and I don't even "work"!).

francessa said...

Lydia, you write so well, everybody can see this in your blogposts! You should have said that sentence to your boss!

My own knitting abilities are limited, and besides I'm too impatient for such tasks.

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