Some days the economy looks up, most other days it looks stagnant. Compound that with massive public sector budget cuts and the picture gets uglier. Much uglier. On the other hand, whether it is through hobbies or jobs, Americans will do whatever it takes to survive and pay the bills. Few Americans have faith in the direction of the economy and more importantly, few are waiting on the economy to turnaround before making personal lifestyle changes to compensate for economic shortcomings.

Basically instead of looking to companies to provide jobs, more and more would be job seekers will be looking within...within themselves to make ends meet. Essentially, more and more entrepreneurs will come online. Then for those that do not really want to make a business out of entrepreneurship, they will just simply turn to hobbies and special talents to make up for the lost income. In doing so, many will find that more cash flow is made through hobbies than working for someone else. That would be a beautiful feeling to look not to someone else's job but to a hobby for supplemental income while enjoying the work all the same. Nice!

Make no mistake about, with or without a thriving economy Americans will get it done whether through hobbies jobs or whatever pays the bills. An unexpected turn of events could very well lead to a severe labor force shortage as more and more Americans throw in the towel as far as working for someone else goes. Long live free enterprise. Go get it.

Maybe it's due to 2012 being an election year or maybe it's simply due to rising demand for products and services. Whichever is the case, it looks like the private sector is getting the message about jobs. That is especially true when we are talking about some 325,000 new jobs for the month of December 2011. That's an impressive number. For those of you wondering why... well the economy needs to add at least 150,000 new jobs just to keep up with the in surge of new graduates into the economy.

When you consider the enormous student loan debt that the average student is carrying these days (more than $35,000), it just makes sense to make sure new graduates have available jobs. On top of that, there are some 14 million or so unemployed across the country that still need jobs. You do the math, at a rate of 325,000 new jobs a month, it would take over 5 years to absorb those currently unemployed. Of course, that's assuming that at the same time we do not add any more unemployed to the mix.

It's hard to see how a pace of 325,000 new jobs (or better) can be maintained. Small business which account for more than 50% of the hiring have access to less than 50% of available bank capital to expand and grow business demand. Sounds like a classic catch 22. At least for now a few hundred thousand new hires can rejoice in the fact that it seems like the private sector is getting the message about jobs. That sure is a great way to start off the New Year. Let's see if that momentum continues.

Sound familiar? Thinking deja-vu? Too many people are stuck in a job going nowhere fast -- real fast. Although true, you won't hear too much complaining, since the job crisis fear factor has a lot of people terrified. It's so bad that even introverts are putting on a "happy face" at work these days. So you dare to step out on a ledge and want to move on to a role more challenging? Nerves of steel!

First things first, is the job stuck on you or are you stuck in the job? The former most likely means you're just too damn good at what you do. Oops, guess you won't raise your hand and volunteer again, now will you. Lol. Now if you're stuck in the job that likely means -- well, you guessed it, you're dumb as a doorknob and not ready to move on to the next mountain to climb. Perhaps you should be happy just to collect a check, in this economy. As for the previously mentioned overachiever, well the best way out of the dead end job is to train/mentor someone. That someone needs to have the same work ethic as you or it's going to be a hard sell getting the boss to buy-in.

So while being stuck in a dead end job can certainly be a drag, at least it's a job for the time being. Train someone to help with your exit strategy or for the other side of the coin, shut your trap, grin and bear it. When you feel like its intolerable, just read the news on unemployment, that will undoubtedly make it all better.

Jobs aren't exactly in abundance these days, there's no doubt about that. On the other hand, how much is "fear factor" playing into the overall job crisis?...or should I say perception of a job crisis. After all, companies still are looking to sell products, goods, and services. Moreover, one company falling by the wayside means more opportunity for the next company. So, there are always winners and losers in either an up or down economic situation. What's happening in the USA economy, today, is more so that the larger more visible companies are experiencing problems and to the uninformed job seeker, it may seem like the sky is falling.

Granted a 1- 2% GDP growth is nothing to brag about but that doesn't mean companies aren't still hiring. Sure there are some larger corporations hanging out and waiting for the 2012 elections before getting back to business in a serious way. At the same time, let's not forget that small businesses employ 55% of American workers. So while a lot of these growing small businesses keep the economy running, they either don't have the manpower or cash to focus on human resource marketing strategies in a big way. So, that just means job seekers just need to be a little more thorough during the search. Finding a job online is not so bad once a plan is in place. Realtime job search is a becoming a big deal. Static job search is still alive, at least for now. Social networking is also a big deal. Let's not forget about researching a a given company's website as well walk up job inquiries. So again, jobs are are little more scarce, today, but don't let the job crisis fear factor prove failure by not trying or giving up too soon.