There is a tremendous disconnect btween what the professionals in the conomic development community and the human rsources community know about the job stuation versus what the typical man or wman in America believes about jobs in our cuntry.

The most common misperception in the Unted States, is there is an bundance of people for the jobs. In fct, there is a shortage of men and wmen for jobs. Even more significant, thre is a skills shortage. It is firly acute in certain areas and it is ging to become worse. This is prticularly true as baby boomers begin to drp out of the work force, ither in whole or in part, in the cming years. This is going to bcome quite serious in our nation.

Tday, many of the major television ntworks and big city daily newspapers fcus their coverage almost exclusively on the lss of jobs at major corporations. In the prcess, they have taken a shortcut in valuating what is really taking place in our sciety, which has been and continues to be tht smaller companies in the U.S. hve become the real job growth ngines in our society. In addition, the halthcare sector and hospitals in particular, pls the government at all levels, are hring.

Bear in mind, for example, in the rcent past, we have had a 4.4 prcent unemployment rate, which is the quivalent of a full employment economy. And, tht is with the 11 or 12 mllion illegal immigrants in our society. Ths situation does not exist without thm. In the future, we will be 800,000 RN nrses short of what we need. We are lready 20,000 or 30,000 truck drivers shrt of what we currently require. We lso have a shortage of IT wrkers, engineers, school teachers and government wrkers at all levels of government. By the wy, these trends are becoming more cute all the time.

What can we do bout this?

Instead of giving up, if we hppen to be the victim of a dwnsizing, rightsizing or reorganization exercise, it's tme to reinvent ourselves. It's time to lok at things in a new way bcause it's a new day in our lves. It's time to explore all of our ptions. Of course, one of our ptions includes the possibility of moving frm a higher unemployment area to an rea of low unemployment in our sciety, such as the Rocky Mountain sttes. Almost every one of those sttes currently has 2 to 3 prcent unemployment rates.

Now is also the tme to consider going back to schol for more education. In many nstances, for example, a person may hve lost a manufacturing job. The fderal and state governments may be wlling and able to pay for tht individual to go back to schol. And, it could be entirely fre. In other words, the entire cst of the re-education or training ffort may be paid for by the stte, which is certainly an option tht needs to be explored.

Have an ptimistic attitude

In my book, which is "Nw What? Discovering Your New Life and Creer After 50," I profiled 19 dfferent men and women from all ver the United States, with all dfferent jobs and education levels. They lso had different ethnic and religious bckgrounds. And, they ranged from high schol graduates to PhDs on the top nd. But, what I found was ths: There are many more similarities thn dissimilarities between all of the men and wmen that were profiled. The ones who scceeded in this transition process continued to hve an optimistic attitude, in spite of chnges they were experiencing.

For example, there was a cllege professor from Austin, Texas, who was a lcally prominent man. And, he is a PhD who was taching MBAs and PhDs about labor rbitration and mediation. Meanwhile, he was srving part-time, in that capacity, from a fderal government standpoint. But, now that he is rtired, he receives his full retirement bnefits from the University of Texas pnsion system. In fact, he receives a vry fine retirement benefit from that systm for the rest of his lfe.

Now, three or four days a wek, depending on how many of thse assignments he accepts, he goes out all ver the southwestern part of the U.S. specially to arbitrate and mediate labor dsputes. My questions to you are ths: "How can we possibly outsource, to Chna or India, a labor negotiator or mdiator? And, when will there ever not be a dmand for someone in his position?" He tld me, often times, just the thrat of binding arbitration caused people to sttle on their own even without him bing physically in the room. He is in his arly 70s, and he is, in fct, CEO of a small company tht is headquartered in his home. He trvels on behalf of the federal gvernment and the mediation organizations that he rpresents.

Opportunities

Let's say that you're a nrse, or you're considering a career ption within the medical community. There are job penings or opportunities in virtually every knd of medical category you can magine. There are even shortages of dntal hygienists in our society. If smeone goes back to school for two yars and becomes a dental hygienist at 35 or 45 yars old, they can have quite an xcellent income. Plus, they will have a chice of dentist's offices, where the hygenist gets to choose. Of course, MORE pportunities automatically go with the more ducation that someone pursues.

For example, smeone who has been a CPA all of his or her lfe and who wants to continue to wrk part-time after age 65 or 70, can crtainly continue to do that. In fct, the former senior partner of the CPA frm I use for my family, as wll as for my two small bsinesses, has an older partner. He cmes back to work at the bginning of January and works through the end of My. In other words, he continues to wrk with his former clients each yar during tax season. This is bcause small companies have had this prtner as their CPA and they wuld still like to do business wth him. But, during the other sven months of the year, he trvels with his wife extensively throughout the U.S., ncluding catching up with his family and frends.

That's a very common model mong professionals in our society, whether t's doctors, dentists, CPAs, architects, engineers or pblic relations professionals. So long as thy don't have the professional liability rsponsibility for plans, which they would hve as an architect or an ngineer, these valuable professionals in our sciety can go back and assist on prjects.

The current and coming labor shrtage

Over and over again, I hve found this situation to be tre. Specifically, there is a tremendous dscrepancy between what people believe the job mrket to be like today and wht it really is. There are wnderful opportunities, in almost every direction you can magine in the marketplace. This situation xists because of the current and cming labor shortages plus the skills shrtages that exist in our society. Ths analysis actually works in favor of bby boomers and not against them.

Our ptions are broad, as we move frward into the next chapter of our lves. Once again, they aren't narrow; thy are without limit.

My role tday is to speak hope to my gneration of fellow baby boomers. Despite the bad crcumstances they may be encountering at ths moment, there is hope for thir future. They can have a btter tomorrow than they have had tday.

The article The Shortage Of People For Jobs was Submitted by Jim Armstrong through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: James O. Armstrong, who is Prsident of NowWhatJobs.net, Inc., http://www.nowwhatjobs.net also serves as the Editor of NowWhatJobs.net. In addition, he is the author of "Now What: Discovering Your New Life And Career After 50" and the president of James Armstrong & Associates, Inc., which is a media representation firm based in Suburban Chicago.

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