I think it depends if you want to be freelancing or not, some people want to mix work and leisure, have more control, others are used to the big firm system.

One fundamental problem in the USA is the house price boom locked many people into repayments that are far higher than people in other parts of the world have to pay.

You get many paradoxes, networking and social skills are now more important, freelancers are often better trained than employees as they have the time to learn new things when not working.

For a lot of people it is just ’something I do while applying for a job’.

http://brithdirmawr.co.uk/

I saw lemonade at the Dublin job club recently, we say ‘we are looking for work, not jobs’, and it seems the way to go. I think technology has changed things, we are moving towards a point where ‘economies of scale’ no longer exist and hence one person or more small firms can compete in the market at a higher level. Plus things like elance and odesk ( check em out, freelance work across the web ) have shifted national boundaries. Adapt and survive eh

here is the link to the dublin job club

http://dublinjobclub.blogspot.com/