Food for thought

In tomorrow's (Sunday's) New York Times magazine there is an article on the recession in which the author states:

Explanations for the collapse of the great American job machine begin with the marked absence of what is called labor hoarding. Usually during recessions, firms keep most of their employees on the payroll even as business slows, in effect stockpiling them for better days. In the current downturn, hoarding seems to have gone into reverse. Not only are firms laying off redundant workers, but they seem to be cutting into the bone. Hall says the absence of hoarding means that firms do not expect business to pick up soon. This is supported by other evidence, like a doubling in the number of involuntary part-time workers (there are nine million of them) and the shrinking workweek, now 33 hours — the shortest ever recorded. Presumably, before companies start to rehire laid-off workers, they will ask their current employees to work more.

Hm. Sort of sounds like what happened with 815 and our budget. There are familiar names of people who no longer will be working for The Episcopal Church... some people I know have already lost their jobs. I hold them in prayer just as I hold parishioners who also have lost their jobs because of the current financial crunch. I give thanks that so far I still have a paycheck.

We're all on this very bumpy, bumpy ride.