Peter Goodman reports in today’s New York Times that the underemplyment rate– including the jobless and those working part time though desirous of full-time work– has reached 17% of the workforce. That’s up from even a week ago .

Pausing for a moment both to reflect on the despair of economic dislocation and to ask, “what now?”, let us considered the wisdom of John Maynard Keynes. His view on economic time (long run to short run) is that in the short run, we are all alive; and that history and life are compounded of short-runs. Given the passionate vibrancy of the “now”- even the now of 17% underemployment (and its painful imposition of economic and emotional hardships) – we are faced with an imperative lest the despair of underemployment become the foundation of depression’s self-fulfilling prophecy: leading to that long-run of psychological disability founded on job loss, envious comparison of those who continue to work, and self-condemnation.

Like it or not, job loss is felt personally.   It exacts a daily cost from the pockets of the underemployed and her family: a cost in diminished savings, a cost in ongoing expenses, a cost in emotional security.

From the perspective both of business and psychology, the critical question must be: given both the already endured and  growing “investment” of this sunk cost, how will gain be realized? Depression of course, leads to the bankruptcy of misery. It is a dysfunctional answer both psychologically and from a business viewpoint.

The answer is in the realization of undervalued knowledge assets joined together both in social support and creative collaboration with others. This is the basis of the Working Knowledge Initiative.

A free, community Working Knowledge Initiative begins on November 3, 2009— sponsored by Congregation B’nai Jeshurun on the Upper West Side. Try it out! Its free and offers a roadmap for the transformation of unrecognized assets and sunk costs to the gains of revenue and creativity!

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