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The Coming Jobs War by Jim Clifton (Book Review)

Gallup chairman Jim Clifton offers a timely and compelling exploration of the urgency of job creation and the current "all out global war for good jobs". Jobs are critical, Clifton contends, because they underpin societies and allow people to prosper, thereby creating well-being and fostering new achievements in all areas of human development.

Unfortunately, we face a global job shortage approaching 2 billion with no apparent driver for jobs imminent. The country that does the most to enable job growth will become the next economic superpower. The text explores the multifaceted dimensions of this topic, with plenty of corroboration from Gallup data.

As an American, Clifton admits to a U.S. bias and speculates on what America must do to maintain its predominant economic position and prevail in the coming jobs war. His ideas include encouraging job creation in cities, emphasizing entrepreneurship over innovation, drastically cutting healthcare costs, improving employee engagement, creating friendlier economic conditions for small businesses, encouraging American business to do more to establish global customers, and promoting the need to increase exports several-fold during the next decade and beyond.

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