This morning, the UCLA Anderson Forecast–one of the many economic forecasting efforts run by economists, which attempt to predict the direction of the economy–released a report which says that we’re in a bipolar economy–one which is both growing, yet where the unemployment rate continues to remain at double digits. The premise is — the stimulus by the government has succeeded in creating growth for companies, but that — because those companies are still nervous about making long term hiring decisions based on that stimulus — companies are not very eager to hire.

This is a great description of what I’ve been telling folks I’ve been seeing in the market: it seems there are a lot of companies who are growing, signing up customers, and having great financial success; yet, it seems like I know lots, and lots of people who are unemployed and looking for jobs. It’s been a very “strange” situation, and which I hadn’t been able to put a word on before–but bipolar really does seem to describe things here.   It’s the same feedback I get every day from professionals, service providers, and others in the market here, who complain there aren’t the jobs, or business opportunities they’d like to see–yet, where I am talking to companies every day reporting record results, growing businesses, and the best year they’ve seen in their history.

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Economy by Benjamin Kuo