[dfwgator]

A valid point, hence the emergence of outsourcing companies which take on the burden of training, or simply serves as a clearing house for getting temp workers with a particular experience. You only need employees with certain skills for a certain period of time, why keep them there is no longer a need for those skills? When a company needs another skill set, they can simply get those workers on an as-needed basis. Many large companies don't even have to bother with training people anymore.

[RobRoy]

I've been a mainframe programmer for 20 years, the last nine of which were as a consultant. I was out of work for several months in 2000 and sold some real estate while I waited for the market to come back.

It did, albeit anemically. So far, so good. I have a plan B and a plan C and even a plan D, two of which include moving out of the Seattle area, one of which includes moving outside the country. Heck, maybe they will need some of us to rebuild Iraq...