The min. wage and lower-end jobs will likely see a lot of shifting - except for urban areas and remote locations, the employers at this level will simply make up for the lost workers by hiring from folks living closer-by.

It's the suburban "bedroom community" areas with no real public transportation to speak of that will feel it. I can walk less than 500 yards to the nearest bus stop, no prob.

On my part, I usually respond to head-hunters with two questions now:

1. is it close to public transportation (yes I have a pretty decent-mileage car, but I'd rather not use it after getting very used to taking the train)?

2. If not, will the proposed salary compensate me for rising fuel costs, both now and within the next 2-3 years?

--

As for politics, err, no... the Democrats have a majority in Congress. They will likely have the Oval Office come next January. Clinton got off light due to the artificially low prices throughout the 1990's, but Obama won't have that luxury.

Oil companies making gasp profits? Whoda thunk it? As publicly traded companies, they have an obligation to do so, or their shareholders will sue the unholy frig out of them for fiscal irresponsibility. The best way to get a piece of that money for yourself is to buy stock in those companies, where you can get dividends off the stock.

Quote - It will be interesting to see how things play out as it trickles down to affect more things...and we'll see more companies of all sizes scramble to figure out how they can leverage the 'net and other technologies to create more virtual offices.

Yep - which is why I've been getting a lot of headhunter calls of late. :)

/P