The Final Word by Jim Thompson


In October, the U.S. unemployment rate rose to 10.2%. This number received a lot of press coverage, but the details attracted me. In the Commissioner’s Statement on the Employment Situation, which always immediately follows the numbers, the following stood out: “…In manufacturing there were notable cuts in …printing… Retail job losses were concentrated in … book stores….” These are confirmations of things we already know: information exchange is going to the electronic media in its many forms. I suspect the jobs cited will not come back.