The Work of Work

In today's frozen market, workers and bosses play a zero-sum game

Do the Work

The job game’s gone cold. Workers and bosses eye each other warily, neither willing to make a move. It's like a high-stakes poker match where everyone's afraid to bet.

Remember when switching jobs was the smart play? Those days are gone. Now, the labor market's locked up tighter than a miser's wallet. Hiring rates are scraping bottom, the lowest in a decade. But layoffs? For the moment, those once-common rites of passage are rare as a honest politician.

It's a strange time. Good if you've got a job, hell if you're hunting. Wages are climbing as fast an asthmatic octogenarian up the sheer face of Mount Everest, sure, but that's cold comfort for the guy pounding the pavement. Companies are playing it close to the vest, scared to hire, scared to fire. They're waiting for the economy — and the electorate — to show their hand.

And the workers? They're staying put, eyes fixed on the clock, dreaming of greener pastures but too smart to jump ship. The grass might be greener on the other side of the septic tank, but the fence around it is electrified.