{"id":2981,"date":"2010-11-10T18:11:00","date_gmt":"2010-11-10T18:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/2010\/11\/10\/the-last-days-of-labor-power\/"},"modified":"2023-06-14T08:27:28","modified_gmt":"2023-06-14T12:27:28","slug":"the-last-days-of-labor-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-last-days-of-labor-power\/","title":{"rendered":"The Last Days of Labor Power?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here at Next Level Purchasing\u2019s headquarters, we are situated right next to an elementary school. As of Monday, the teachers of the Moon Area School District are on strike. So, within a few steps of our building are teachers holding picket signs.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t miss updates on Procurement &amp; Supply Chain, Subscribe here!<\/p>\n<p>I guess that\u2019s their god-given right or something. But, in this economy, one can\u2019t help but want to tell them that they should be happy that they even have a job.<\/p>\n<p>Naturally, I resisted that temptation. One of the reasons \u2013 other than me being a gentleman \u2013 is that perhaps they should enjoy what I think are the last days to enjoy the privilege to walk out of work.<\/p>\n<p>The employment picture is ugly, with the US unemployment rate hovering around double digits for what seems like almost a half-a-decade. Sure, a forecasted economic rebound will help that a little bit. But is anyone else seeing the forces that seem to suggest that we\u2019ll never recover the jobs lost since December 2007?<\/p>\n<p>The forces I\u2019m talking about include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The fact that, if something can be bought less expensively from outside of the US, it eventually will be bought from outside of the US<\/li>\n<li>The Federal and State minimum wages make hiring workers for low-value tasks prohibitively expensive<\/li>\n<li>The automation and \u201cInternetizing\u201d of certain things is an irreversible trend<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I think that this third point affects teachers the most. Online education has only grown. Next Level Purchasing is proof of that.<\/p>\n<p>Where once purchasing departments were relegated to the best training they could find in their location, now they can choose the best purchasing training in the world. Think of the possibilities for childhood education. Instead of hoping to get the best teachers in the region for our schools, we someday may have access to the best teachers in the world. The geographic barriers to the best education will be removed, which would require a lot fewer teachers.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, I think that as more markets open up \u2013 there are more non-US countries than India and China, you know \u2013 we\u2019re going to see a world where there is more parity in the standard of living between countries. That means that impoverished countries will become more like the US and the US will become more like impoverished countries until there is more of a balance, relatively speaking.<\/p>\n<p>None of that is good news for US labor.<\/p>\n<p>So instead of giving those picketing teachers with their no-value-proposition-signs (e.g., \u201cNew buildings need teachers\u201d WTH?) a piece of my mind, I say to them \u201cEnjoy the last days of labor power.\u201d These will be remembered as the good old days someday.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Recommended Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"row-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/collaboration-in-negotiation\/\" aria-label=\"\u201cCollaboration In Negotiation\u201d (Edit)\">Collaboration In Negotiation<\/a><br \/>\n<a class=\"row-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/seeking-procurement-experts-to-be-guests-on-our-podcast\/\" aria-label=\"\u201cSeeking Procurement Experts To Be Guests On Our Podcast\u201d (Edit)\">Seeking Procurement Experts To Be Guests On Our Podcast<\/a><br \/>\n<a class=\"row-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/does-spend-matters-matter-more-than-ever\/\" aria-label=\"\u201cDoes \u201cSpend Matters\u201d matter more than ever?\u201d (Edit)\">Does \u201cSpend Matters\u201d matter more than ever?<\/a><br \/>\n<a class=\"row-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-sole-source-vs-non-sole-source-cost-indexes\/\" aria-label=\"\u201cThe Sole Source vs. Non-Sole Source Cost Indexes\u201d (Edit)\">The Sole Source vs. Non-Sole Source Cost Indexes<\/a><br \/>\n<a class=\"row-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/should-you-pay-an-invoice-that-doesnt-correspond-with-a-purchase-order\/\" aria-label=\"\u201cShould You Pay An Invoice That Doesn\u2019t Correspond With A Purchase Order?\u201d (Edit)\">Should You Pay An Invoice That Doesn\u2019t Correspond With A Purchase Order?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here at Next Level Purchasing\u2019s headquarters, we are situated right [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":4129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-procurement"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.13 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Last Days of Labor Power? - Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-last-days-of-labor-power\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Last Days of Labor Power? - Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here at Next Level Purchasing\u2019s headquarters, we are situated right [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-last-days-of-labor-power\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NextLevelPurchasing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-11-10T18:11:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-14T12:27:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/11\/nlpa-images-139.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1064\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Galo Matagay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@nextlevelpurch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@nextlevelpurch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Galo Matagay\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-last-days-of-labor-power\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-last-days-of-labor-power\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Galo Matagay\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#\/schema\/person\/72d094fab77892483dfa6e061cb27eaa\"},\"headline\":\"The Last Days of Labor Power?\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-11-10T18:11:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-14T12:27:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-last-days-of-labor-power\/\"},\"wordCount\":501,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Procurement\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-last-days-of-labor-power\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-last-days-of-labor-power\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-last-days-of-labor-power\/\",\"name\":\"The Last Days of Labor Power? - Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-11-10T18:11:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-14T12:27:28+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-last-days-of-labor-power\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-last-days-of-labor-power\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-last-days-of-labor-power\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Last Days of Labor Power?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/\",\"name\":\"Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)\",\"description\":\"The Next Level Purchasing Association\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/08\/NLPA-logo-small-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/08\/NLPA-logo-small-1.png\",\"width\":149,\"height\":50,\"caption\":\"Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/next-level-purchasing-association\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCrNZYjcLcaNA4xMKQHEGamw\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NextLevelPurchasing\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nextlevelpurch\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#\/schema\/person\/72d094fab77892483dfa6e061cb27eaa\",\"name\":\"Galo Matagay\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/34d4be7be9c43eeb480e7e32739c2f3f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/34d4be7be9c43eeb480e7e32739c2f3f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Galo Matagay\"},\"description\":\"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aenean consequat rutrum ipsum quis iaculis. Duis non porta purus, tincidunt tristique mi. Cras eleifend tincidunt mollis. Aliquam egestas velit vitae interdum egestas. Aliquam vel lorem egestas lectus porttitor volutpat nec sit amet enim. Nullam bibendum vestibulum imperdiet.\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Last Days of Labor Power? - Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-last-days-of-labor-power\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Last Days of Labor Power? - Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)","og_description":"Here at Next Level Purchasing\u2019s headquarters, we are situated right [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-last-days-of-labor-power\/","og_site_name":"Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NextLevelPurchasing\/","article_published_time":"2010-11-10T18:11:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-06-14T12:27:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":1064,"url":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/11\/nlpa-images-139.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Galo Matagay","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@nextlevelpurch","twitter_site":"@nextlevelpurch","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Galo Matagay","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-last-days-of-labor-power\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-last-days-of-labor-power\/"},"author":{"name":"Galo Matagay","@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#\/schema\/person\/72d094fab77892483dfa6e061cb27eaa"},"headline":"The Last Days of Labor Power?","datePublished":"2010-11-10T18:11:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-14T12:27:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-last-days-of-labor-power\/"},"wordCount":501,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Procurement"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-last-days-of-labor-power\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-last-days-of-labor-power\/","url":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-last-days-of-labor-power\/","name":"The Last Days of Labor Power? - Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-11-10T18:11:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-14T12:27:28+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-last-days-of-labor-power\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-last-days-of-labor-power\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/the-last-days-of-labor-power\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Last Days of Labor Power?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/","name":"Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)","description":"The Next Level Purchasing Association","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#organization","name":"Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)","url":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/08\/NLPA-logo-small-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/08\/NLPA-logo-small-1.png","width":149,"height":50,"caption":"Next Level Purchasing Association (NLPA)"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/next-level-purchasing-association\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCrNZYjcLcaNA4xMKQHEGamw","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NextLevelPurchasing\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/nextlevelpurch"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#\/schema\/person\/72d094fab77892483dfa6e061cb27eaa","name":"Galo Matagay","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/34d4be7be9c43eeb480e7e32739c2f3f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/34d4be7be9c43eeb480e7e32739c2f3f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Galo Matagay"},"description":"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aenean consequat rutrum ipsum quis iaculis. Duis non porta purus, tincidunt tristique mi. Cras eleifend tincidunt mollis. Aliquam egestas velit vitae interdum egestas. Aliquam vel lorem egestas lectus porttitor volutpat nec sit amet enim. Nullam bibendum vestibulum imperdiet."}]}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2981"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2981"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17838,"href":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2981\/revisions\/17838"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}