Friedman has it right. Businesses aren't stupid. They have reexamined their operations during the recession and found ways to reduce costs, chief among them fewer employees.
We should expect no less from the private sector in a (relatively) free economy? Profitable businesses will always innovate to increase productivity.
Employees must similarly find within the capacity to reinvent themselves rather than become dependent on the government to take care of them. The last decade has shown that the country cannot afford that approach.
Now, if we could just get that attitude instilled in our political leadership!
"Indeed, what is most striking when you talk to employers today is how many of them have used the pressure of the recession to become even more productive by deploying more automation technologies, software, outsourcing, robotics — anything they can use to make better products with reduced head count and health care and pension liabilities. That is not going to change. And while many of them are hiring, they are increasingly picky. They are all looking for the same kind of people — people who not only have the critical thinking skills to do the value-adding jobs that technology can’t, but also people who can invent, adapt and reinvent their jobs every day, in a market that changes faster than ever."
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