A quick look at today's bugler (Job Boom Edition) will show you the range of folks using the phrase "job boom" to describe circumstances in their country or state. It also offers a map through the maze of information in the Job Boom 2.0 articles.

Is it a Job Boom?

As we keep saying, the precise impacts of the labor shortage depend on how you see it and where you stand. It's a really bad time to be hiring IT pros in West Kansas. It's an awful time to be hiring Project Managers in China. In the United States, the College educated crown is experiencing an unemployment rate below 3%.

But, it's all in the way that you define things.

If you are willing to use flexible scheduling and view age as an asset, the ranks of able bodies are expanding. If you need 20 hour days from people who are forming their ability to make sound decisions, there's a shortage. If you're willing to manage the workload from afar, there's an abundant supply of talent. If you want applicants to line up at your gates in Silicon Valley, there may be a problem. Professional waiters are in serious short supply in Sonoma County. They don't need them in Wheeling, WV.

It's like that. Shortages and Booms depend on where you are, how clear you are about what you want and how badly you want it.

There is a deep demographic pressure on the labor supply and a six year long economic recovery prodding labor demand. Traditional definitions of labor supply are therefore stretched thin while jobs are beginning to seem abundant. It's interesting that the fuss comes as the job/growth numbers are showing a little weakness.

The real issue, we think, is the variety of ways in which perceived labor shortage / job abundance will be addressed. We're expecting a cultural shift away from retirement as an end state. Things are moving towards a more Puritan view that work is an end in itself and that productive employment is a social virtue.

Take a look at today's Bugler.