Will Part of Professional Class Be Wiped Out by the Downturn?
A Wall Street Journal column asserts that the safety net doesn’t extend to the growing professional class in the United States, and airs the possibility that part of these jobs will be “wiped out.”
The Microtrends column in the Wall Street Journal says the United States is “totally unprepared” for professional job losses. “We have safety nets for the chronically unemployed, for the fast-food workers let go (oddly they may be the only ones keeping their jobs in this recession), and for the manufacturing plants that have been shuttered. The stimulus will create construction jobs galore.” But there are no jobs for the professionals such as writers and editors who “can’t build roads,” according to the article.
The column notes job losses at top law firms and says lawyers are hit hard. “They principally had their savings in the stock and housing markets, which have been decimated. Unlike many blue-collar and public-sector workers, they have no union protection, limited pensions and suburban-family expenses. And as professionals, they have perfected how to do their narrow job well. But many have little direct business sense or experience.”
It’s unclear how long and deep the recession will be and “how much of this class will be wiped out,” the article says. These professionals worked and studied hard to become successful, but now many face lost jobs and financial security.
“Look closely at some of the homeless you see in the big cities—not all of the laid-off lawyers and other professionals are going to make it,” the column says. “Some are never going to get over the glory they had that so rapidly disappeared.”
