More Construction…Still No Jobs

I got an email recently citing some article saying that construction starts would increase in 2011 for the first time in some ungodly amount of time.  I’d give you the exact number and cite the source and all that, but that would make this much more like a book report instead of the eloquent and flowing stream of conciousness that makes it a blog…er whatever it is that you call this. 

Anyway, I’m pretty sure, and maybe someone can back me up on this, that companies are making money again – and they’re frickin’ loving it.  Now, if they went and hired people, the cost of those people would go in the minus column taking away from their ever so precious profits.  Unfortunately, companies don’t hire out of the goodness of their hearts.  And really, I wouldn’t expect them to.  Even though I think the majority of for-profit organizations are filthy and crooked, this is a free market and they don’t have to give hand-outs if they don’t want to.  However, they could at least (god forbid) have some foresight.  

If construction starts are starting to increase, don’t you think you will need to hire really darn soon?  So if you started hiring now, you would have a much better labor pool to draw from than you would in say six months or a year. 

But alas, there may be a drop in short term profits in order to create a better long-term, and yes profitable team.  Gasp! 

It’s really the obsession with short term profits that is the problem.  If people would get their heads out thier quarterly financial statments and into a world that involved long-term sustainable growth and improvement, we’d all be better off.  And we’d maybe even have a job.