Hmm, I think most of Rifkin's theories have already been dispelled. In my line of work, the blue collar side makes buck. Even amongst the office ranks, the manpower need is still exceeding supply.

What I do see changing a lot is the corporate model of permanent full time staff. The overhead rates are going up every year, and it is hard to justify hiring someone into the company, training them, then watching them take their newly acquired skillset to the nearest competitor for a 10% pay increase. More and more we are looking for competent temp staff who we can bring on for 6 month assignments, with the option to roll them over ever 6 months until the project begins demobilizing. The overhead costs are much lower than permanent full time staff, we don't worry about paying to train temps, and as more and more technical staff hit the unemployment line, the temp resource increases. Add to this the notion that many temp staff actually are making a higher rate of pay than their permanent full time equivalents, and I would say if anything the market is moving more and more towards contract labor, and folks like me become consultants or independents, while people like my admin assistant will next be applying for work via a temp pool agency. There is no shortage of work, just antiquated and obsolete jobs. You can't keep paying someone $70+ an hour to paint the undercarriage of a new car on an assemblyline, or deliver the mail for $60k+ a year and expect to stay competitive. Not when so many others are willing to do the same for less than half that.

I hear that Washington State's minimum wage is now $8.50 or more an hour. How can you justify paying someone to flip burgers or wash dishes for that kind of money? No wonder we are raising a generation of spoiled, unmotivated workers who feel they are entitled to a way of life they refuse to work for. If the wage rate keeps climbing, where do you suppose Burger King is going to make cost cuts to keep their cheeseburgers below a dollar a piece? There are still plenty of Kangaroo in Australia last time I looked. Maybe pretty soon not so much I reckon.