What will Obama Jobs Summit amount to?

No,  say it ain't so,  rng  -  the whole point of the election of Barack Obama was to end the 25 year divide of rich and poor, and to go back to the middle.  If that does not happen,  I intend on moving to Afghanistan.  

Ha,  thanks rng,  I will indeed begin my shopping, and Hugh, if I get stoned,  well,  my troubles will be over..... now need to book a flight ;)

The rebound is slow, but the reasons might be more complicated than we realize.  We are on the cusp of a changing job market that is evolving from manufacturing/construction base to a more technological job market  addressing the needs of the 21st century versus the Detroit car manufacturing base that has stablized the job market in the past.  Digital and green technologies alone are moving to the front; however, it will take time for educational infrastructure to meet the demands of these technologies.  This is the intersection of education and technology. 

Tax credits to employers and the use of monies still set aside for banks will be on the discussion table to perhaps offer some immediate interventions.  We did not get to this place in one year, and I hope people realize that when discussing the demise of the middle class.  

Mark Zandi, an economist who advised Republican presidential nominee John McCain last year but now regularly confers with congressional Democrats, predicts that under current policies, unemployment — which stood at 7.6 percent when Obama took office in January — will peak at about 11 percent next summer and could still be as high as 10.5 percent by Election Day.

Slow job rebounds are a recent trend. Even though jobs returned relatively quickly after the deep recession that ended in November 1982, it was 14 months after the relatively mild one in 1992 and 24 months after the 2001 recession before job growth returned to pre-recession levels.

Why? U.S. companies are able to switch their activities to other parts of the world more easily and cut costs. Businesses globally are increasing productivity through automation and with information technologies. Engines of growth that helped pull the U.S. out of most recessions in the late 20th century — the U.S. auto industry and housing construction — aren't playing a role now.

"It's going to be tougher and tougher for the job market to come back," Zandi said.

A:  Thanks as always for your terrific info.  Yes,  it has taken a long time for this to come about,  and was happening even in the 80s and 90s.  Yes, and where indeed will the growth come from?  There in truth must be a focus on technology and the right kinds of jobs.  No going back to the past. 

rng and ha:  Now i actually feel sad that I cannot really go....:(

You are welcome smk : )

You can go on a vacation, but I would stay out of war zones or countries with unstable governments or we might be seeing you in the news, and we don't want that.  Oh, and don't go hiking in the mountains near Iran or yachting in the Indian Ocean. : )

Ha,  A,  I will heed your advice!  ; ) 

A, & rng are hitting the right points but....  We as a country will not be able to stay on top with "high tech jobs" without a well educated workforce to go with it.. Yes we need to encourage job growth, but we also need to improve our education system and keep collage affordable... like health care prolonged periods of price increases above the base rate of inflation keep more and more people from being able to afford any kind of collage.

I do know, I am there... I work full time, and take classes as I can, and now that my employer has stopped reimbursement for school (for everyone) my ability to continue classes is VERY limited...

Without progress you have stagnation, we as a country are, and have been stagnating for the last 10-20 years..(who wants to swim in a stagnate pond?)

Indeed,  reading Elizabeth Warren's Huffington Post piece,  "America without a Middle Class"  reveals just how dire the jobs situation is becoming,  and where there is no decent employment there can be no middle class,  and hence no strong America. 

Although I'm not a Huffington Post fan, that last paragraph of your story says it all. 

The jobs they're talking about, are not all college graduate jobs either.  I agree with snuffy that education is really important, but so is skills training as a combination of education and skill, i.e. formalized vocational training.

The problem in Canada and the US today is that our education is not planned to fill jobs available in the future.  Our population can't all be acadmics, lawyers, doctors or scientiests.  There is still room for Joe the Plumber and Harry the Carpenter. 

Well, I listened to his speech and was disappointed that all he did was summarize various proposals that were circulating among the attendees. And there was no discussion of changes in fiscal policy to encourage hiring.